Sunday, May 7, 2017

We should replicate the Vendee Globe route in a big yacht.


Announcing... Rick Potvin's Around-the-world-yacht cruise at about 55 degrees South to prove the Earth is a ball or a pancake.

CAPTAIN RICK POTVIN will replicate the VENDEE RACE ROUTE at 60S on a CRUISE SHIP of flat-earth enthusiasts to decide if earth is flat or round. Rick and his crew will not seek to RACE around the globe but rather to document position, speed and time while following a WELL KNOWN PROVEN route. 
The image above is of Gilligan on Gilligan's Island, not Rick Potvin although Rick imagines himself, today, to be setting out on an ill-fated mission, as in the 1960's TV comedy show. 
Incomplete partly unedited entry
I haven't been able to work on this project for some time now due to other pressing matters related to ordinary life. It occurred to me on my day off today, however, that consistent with the abandonment of my attempt to visit (virtually) all of the research stations (possibly fake) in Antarctica, that I would do well simply to replicate the oft-repeated Vendee Globe route used by the sailboat races-- only going in a cruise ship instead of a sail boat-- with a crew and passengers who would be interested in the mission of proving earth a globe or flat-- AT 60 degrees south. The distance should be a bit larger than 15,000 on a globe and somewhat less than 60,000 miles on a flat earth-- say 20,000 on a globe and about 48,000 on a flat earth. I haven't been able to write a blog post today but here are my references. See VENDEE in the index below for my previous posts on this. 

Rick's update - May 8, 2017. The data pulled out of the net, posted below, isn't yet edited-- it's still being worked on. UPDATE MAY 9: This idea has taken on a life of its' own, in my neural network-- like a mind-parasite. Despite not having time and money to compose this entry, I don't seem to have a choice. I'm dealing with how to view stars while on a yacht (got it right!--the key is to think "Yeah-chett"... ya ch T). 


Rethinking the Vendee Globe Race as a model for a Cruise Ship Trek at 60S
Rick says-- First, let's take another look at that cartoonish looking Vendee Globe map with the so-called "gates" that the Vendee boats have to pass through-- presumably as a way to track their position over time. Suffice it to say that in the past, I've dismissed this chart as silly-- and I've often considered that the entire race is a hoax. HOWEVER... now that I'm setting aside the attempt to VIRTUALLY travel from station to station on Antarctica, this VENDEE CIRCUIT is the next best thing to see if we can verify the distance travelled. In the case of Vendee, we're at 60S. In the case of the tour of Antarctica stations, we'd be around 75S. So we're still in a pretty good position to understand whether we're dealing with a globe or a plain because the difference in distance and time on globe or plain at 60S should be significant and conclusive.



Relevent quotes lifted from forums
(Rick says-- My citations are thin right now in the interest of getting another post up-- but I'll fill those citations in asap)

quote
So it should be VERY easy to see if at -60 degrees, a boat going 20 mph will go all the way around the earth in 2.5 weeks or 12.4 weeks - nothing subtle about it - glaringly obvious which is correct.

response quote: 
You actually don't need to go all the way around. If after 4 days, starting at the southern tip of S. America going counter clockwise (disk)/east(sphere) at 20 mph, you are under South Africa, the 2.5 weeks is correct and the earth is a sphere.  If you are still under S. America, then 12.4 weeks is correct and the earth is flat. No ambiguity. Someone should be able to hire a boat for a couple days to try this and lay the Flat Earth/sphere earth debate to rest.

source: 
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6eJxZUs0U9EJ:https://www.theflatearthsociety.org/forum/index.php?topic%3D64539.0%2B60+south&num=100&newwindow=1&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&hl=en&ct=clnk


60S might not be a low enough Latitude! 
Observe this map.
It's hard to see the 60S latitude line-- but it's there. And it now appears to me to be too far south because even though the websites that talk about 60S "say" that it's all ocean at 60S, the map below shows it running into land. We'd actually have to sail a cruise ship at 50S latitude to avoid land, it appears.


I've take one section of the map above-- a low res map that's difficult to read here-- but it's good enough to see that by siling on the next latitude line up at 50S, we would at least avoid bumping into Tasmania.




Google search terms I used to drill down on this concept

http://www.google.com/search?q=%2260+south%22+cruise&num=100&newwindow=1&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&oq=%2260+south%22+cruise&gs_l=heirloom-serp.3..0i8i30.6829.9409.0.9641.2.2.0.0.0.0.161.242.1j1.2.0....0...1ac.1.34.heirloom-serp..0.2.240.RhaR303GqcI

http://photos.60south.com/gallery/cruise/index.html

"60 south" vendee



Some results of the searches above surprisingly include MY entries?

rickpotvinflatearth.blogspot.com/
Mar 9, 2017 ... Various maps of the Vendee route, re-examined, will remind us of the open ocean we should experience. .... 60 south - Google Search ...

rickpotvinflatearth.blogspot.com/.../swiss-polar-institutes-spi-90-day.html
Apr 28, 2016 ... This trip will be much more important than those Vendee Races which ..... that the A.Trishnikov will voyage south of 60 south but this morning, ...

https://rickpotvinflatearth.blogspot.com/2017/?m=0
Mar 9, 2017 ... distance of the vendee globe race - Google Search ..... further south than the 60 south latitude line, in which case we'll use that as our guide.


No stars?
Here we go again. "No stars" was part of the proof we never went into orbit or to the moon. Now I see "no stars" in these photos of ridiculously lit up cruise ships. Why all the lighting? Isn't it overdone. It turns out that the cruise ships have "gone overboard" in their lighting. "Overboard". Get it? The upshot is that there is so much light on cruise ships that passengers on ocean cruises can't see the stars. Are you kidding me? Out there in the ocean, hundreds of miles from cities-- and "no stars". Oh no. Yup. And in case you DO want to see stars, there are a few specialized cruise ships where they make that possible for a few hours. The implications for my "round-the-world-60S-Latitude-cruise" are enormous since I would have to be sure that our coordinates were as "they say" they are-- after learning about star-guided navigation. I search many pics on Bing images for images of stars from cruise ships and couldn't find any. This is going to be a huge problem if not rectified. 


What we should see in ocean based photos of the stars.
Rick says-- I'm not into photography and lighting but I think cameras can take pictures of stars at night as seen below as long as there's not too much city light. Of course, with computers there are lots of fraudulent photos online now-- but at the very least, we CAN see stars with our own eyes outside the city and at night when most city lights are out. I watch stars appear in the sky over Phoenix when it gets dark just for fun-- to see where they appear first. I don't know the names of many constellations and I certainly can't navigate by stars nor can I sail. I DO know how to search or blog phrases on the net however and as it turns out, I cannot find any cruise ship passengers blogging about stars-- with photos (yet). Below is a sample of the kinds of pictures I'd like to see from the VENDEE RACERS-- who NEVER mention stars in THEIR blogs! Isn't that possibly interesting?

REFERENCES

www.naturalnavigator.com/find-your-way-using/stars
Latest News: My latest book, How to Read Water includes a section that explains - in a straightforward way - how celestial navigation works.

  1. Navigating by the Stars - Space.com
  2. www.space.com/5849-navigating-stars.html
  3. Sep 19, 2008 ... Star navigation dates from human prehistory, and is even used by animals.
  4. Star Navigation for Beginners / The ReadyBlog
  5. https://www.thereadystore.com/.../how-to-navigate-using-the-stars-sun-and- moon/
  6. Feb 8, 2013 ... Star navigation is a great skill to have in the case of an emergency. Many people are interested in knowing how to navigate using the stars, ..

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=%22vendee+globe%22+night+photos&go=Search&qs=n&form=QBIR&sp=-1&pq=%22vendee+globe%22+night+photo&sc=0-26&sk=&cvid=3291699495154384A05B148037A54721

STARS
http://sciencenetlinks.com/blog/snl-educator/vendee-globe-2008-light-pollution/
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=night+sky+from+a+cruise+ship&go=Search&qs=n&form=QBIR&sp=-1&pq=night+sky+from+a+cruise+ship&sc=1-28&sk=&cvid=14903154129C4864A2ECD86C281A10DB




http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=cruise+ship+deck+at+night&go=Search&qs=n&form=QBIR&sp=-1&pq=cruise+ship+deck+at+night&
sc=1-23&sk=&cvid=FF18BF3A28B342DC82F16C492531DA62

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Carnival+Cruise+Ship+at+Night&FORM=RESTAB

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22star+gazing%22+%22ocean+cruise%22&num=100&newwindow=1&safe=off&hl=en&gl=us&authuser=0&oq=%22star+gazing%22+%22ocean+cruise%22&gs_l=heirloom-serp.3..30i10.2586.14551.0.14795.55.41.13.0.0.0.177.4568.14j26.40.0....0...1ac.1.34.heirloom-serp..3.52.4669.e4orXnagrlw

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/379850549805598251/

https://www.google.com/search?q=navigating+by+the+stars&num=100&newwindow=1&safe=off&hl=en&gl=us&authuser=0&oq=navigating+by+the+stars&gs_l=heirloom-serp.3...70353.74792.0.74948.24.6.0.18.18.0.121.514.2j3.5.0....0...1ac.1.34.heirloom-serp..16.8.545.v62_27z__vo


TOM appears on flat earth forums


TOM: Do you have any ship logs, coordinate logs, or anything like that to show us? [regarding the Vendee Race]

COMMENTER: The fact that you can attend the race, track them from shore, locate their radio signals from shore, keep in radio contact with video feed, and do this from the bottom tip of the continents surrounding Antarctica seems to favor RE. I do not see how you can assume something of this magnitude and organization to be a mistake of navigation. I'll check back in tomorrow.

TOM: How do you know that these people on the shore could locate their radio signals? Why would they even use transmission radio when they could use satellite phone? Where is your evidence that people went to the tips of these continents to do this?

COMMENTER: Their families and instructors were involved with the race and communications as were many civilians taking interest.I am sure you noticed that there are gates that they must pass through.

TOM: So someone went ahead and set up gates, buyoes, or whatever in intervals along the 14,000 mile stretch of water from the starting location. Big deal. That doesn't prove anything about where those gates really are or even if the captains reported seeing the gates.That's assuming that the gates are even physical. The gates are more likely imaginary so that the captains could keep track of their progress - One imaginary gate per 1000 miles traveled would give the captains an idea of their total progress ("I'm 1/14th of the way there!")Actually the map shows the racecourse with the three travel lanes (all of which can be used, but any may be closed due to hazards). Specifically, the course shows the "gates" through which the boats must pass, the islands on the course, and the starting/ending points on the continents of Australia, South America, and Africa.


Antarctica-Cup-racetrack.jpg 568×567 pixels



GATES for the VENDEE GLOBE RACE CIRCUIT

There’s nothing too complicated about how these gates work. An Ice Gate is a segment on a given latitude, defined between two longitudes. The space between the longitudes is around 400 miles, the equivalent of one and a half day of sailing. There are four to six, or sometimes seven gates along the route and they are spaced out between 800 and 2,000 miles. In order to validate their crossing, skippers only need to sail through the gate from north to south, from south to north, or just keeping sailing north

The collaboration with CLS organises as follows: “We establish a working plan with them for the ice monitoring, and they place an order with Canadian and European operators running the satellites for a number of organisations. Thanks to various technologies, they will try not only to find out where the ice is but also to see where they drift. Thanks to the weather softwares and drift algorithms they are using, we will certainly be able to determine where the ice seen on Monday will be on Wednesday and then on Friday”. Besides, “CLS will assign an engineer on the Paris race HQ, who will be part of our team for the whole southern seas period”, adds Denis Horeau.
http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/1396/how-ice-gates-work


Rick says-- Why don't they show the gates on the map here? I need to see a map like the projection below with the gates. It appears the first gate, however is closer to Australia than south of France. I wonder why that is. 

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0ldShZwsmf8J:https://blog.mytimezero.com/the-vendee-globe-is-back-2016-2017-edition/%2Bvendee+globe+blog&num=100&newwindow=1&safe=off&hl=en&gl=us&authuser=0&ct=clnk







MARINE NAVIGATION 101
Rick says- I'll have to start from the beginning. It looks like, from the cover below, that the depth of the water is marked on navigation charts. I don't know what navigation charts look like for the Vendee zone between-- it looks like 50 and 60S latitude-- but I'm sure those charts are available. I'm sure the water is plenty deep too. Maybe that's why the waves in that zone are so big. Let's call the latitudes between which the Vendee racers sail the "Vendee Zone" -- with that slight meaningful salute to Rod Serling's Twilight Zone. 



NO GATE MARKS ON REGULAR MAP PROJECTION BY VENDEE?
Note that there are no gate markings on the Vendee map below. Why not? Should there not be? 






Rick says-- Given the problem with seeing stars on a cruise ship, I'll cancel that plan and hire a yaught-- and learn to spell yaught too. Is that right? [later-- no-- it's yacht... as in ya ch t or yaw chett as a mnemonic]. 

NEW: Hire a Yaught to cruise WITH the next group of Vendee Racers.... turn lights out at night... navigate and confirm by stars.




PEOPLE WHO DID THE VENDEE
www.smh.com.au/.../solo-antarctic-woman-crowdfunds-epic-journey- 20160706-gpzjxp.html
Jul 22, 2016 ... ... sailor Ivan Macfadyen when he competed in the Vendee Globe – a solo, ... latitudes 45 south and 60 south to avoid the worst of the weather

http://www.smh.com.au/national/solo-antarctic-woman-crowdfunds-epic-journey-20160706-gpzjxp.html

CAPTAIN RICK POTVIN will replicate the VENDEE RACE ROUTE at 60S on a CRUISE SHIP of flat-earth enthusiasts to decide if earth is flat or round. Rick and his crew will not seek to RACE around the globe but rather to document position, speed and time while following a WELL KNOWN PROVEN route. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=antarctica+cup+ocean+race+&num=100&newwindow=1&safe=off&hl=en&gl=us&authuser=0&oq=antarctica+cup+ocean+race+&gs_l=heirloom-serp.3...505305.509055.0.511071.26.12.0.11.11.0.263.1350.2j5j2.9.0....0...1ac.1.34.heirloom-serp..7.19.1423.waA8OhkNJdc
Antarctica Cup — Lisa Blair Sails the World



ABOUT THE VENDEE
The Antarctica Cup Ocean Race is a non-stop race of around 14 000 nautical miles. Circumnavigating Antarctica by passing the three most notorious capes on the planet.
Cape Leeuwin, Cape Horn and Cape Agulhuss. Originally founded by Robert Williams the race has only ever seen one edition with current record holder Fedor Konyukhov being the only competitor brave enough to take on this challenge. Lisa will be racing the established record set by Fedor and will be the third person in History to complete such a challenge.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Ptw4LX5oWq8J:https://www.theflatearthsociety.org/forum/index.php?topic%3D22372.0%2Bantarctica+cup+ocean+race&num=100&newwindow=1&safe=off&hl=en&gl=us&authuser=0&ct=clnk


Seeing the stars at night from a yacht.

Rick says... It turns out to be really hard to find pictures of the starry night sky taken from cruise ships and yachts! What follows are my first attempts at searching on Bing Images for such pictures. It also turns out that cruise ships are only NOW making special attempts to help people do stargazing while on the oceans! How bizarre is that? They would rather watch musicians and plays and take various courses about ethics, say, than simply stand on deck at night and stargaze. So much for LoveBoat, the 70's TV show where a couple romanced on deck under the stars every episode. I've gather some of the better photos from each search, although the links are live, so you can go see for yourself what I mean. This is bad news for my attempted Vendee Zone Cruise to Determine Flat vs. Pancake Earth.

yacht "night view" - Bing images

yacht stargazing - Bing images

yacht stargazing night - Bing images

yacht "night sky" - Bing images




ocean "night sky" - Bing images




Ocean at Night with Moon - Bing images

Ocean at Night with stars - Bing images



middle of the ocean - Bing images

middle of the ocean at night - Bing images





Small Boat On Ocean Waves at Night - Bing images

Pacific Ocean at Night - Bing images




nightsky star chart - Bing images




"cruise ship" "stargazing" - Bing images



Final entry for this post....
EXAMINATION OF THE VENDEE ROUTE IN DETAIL
I'll have to magnify and examine in detail every section of the Vendee race now. It's a cartoonish looking map... comic book in style which lacks latitude markings and other markings one would think neccessary -- like navigation depths and star charts. This is why I originally thought the whole thing was a joke when I first found it. However... if there IS a race going on... and SINCE my Antarctica mission to determine distances between stations is facing a dead end right now-- I'll continue here by trying to either virtually travel or have someone trave-- or travel prep myself-- around the same route Vendee claims-- with international accolades every 4 years. Here's an example of a magnified map section with markers. I can't even find a KEY for this cartoonish map.... but I'll pursue it now. I'll start a new blog entry to do more section by section examination since it's a big topic that deserves its' own entry. 

END OF THIS ENTRY.
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