Showing posts with label Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Post. Show all posts
Friday, 7 April 2017
First Post on Indigenous Boast er Boats
This blog is about antique watercraft outside of the Western, plank-on-frame tradition. Eventually, I hope to address dugouts, pirogues, bark canoes, reed/grass boats, skin-on-frame boats (including kayaks, coracles, curraghs, etc.), skin-without-frame boats (inflated yak skins, anyone?), dragon boats, Polynesian and Hawaiian canoes and their relatives (e.g., outrigger canoes, proas, double canoes/catamarans), and boats of various Asian styles (junks, sampans, and the like), and every other type that I can find, hopefully with the help of interested contributors.
The title, Indigenous Boats, is admittedly obscure and will no doubt prove to be inaccurate. A dragon boat built and raced in Boston, for instance, can hardly be considered indigenous to the Charles River. But dragon boats were/are indigenous to someplace (China), and no other qualifier seems right. Aboriginal Boats? Hardly. The Chinese who developed the dragon boat were long past the aboriginal stage, and the term is so closely connected to the Australian aborigines that it would cause great confusion. (By the way, what is the boatbuilding tradition of Australia prior to Western contact?) For roughly similar reasons, "primitive boats" wouldn't do it, since many of the craft I hope to discuss are pretty sophisticated in design, construction, and/or overall complexity, and "primitive" is a value-laden term that would certainly upset some readers -- no matter that a coracle, for example, is indeed a primitive contraption, and no matter how appealing and charming it may be, and regardless of the fact that coracles were used for serious (that is, not leisure) purposes as late as the early 20th century. Beyond indigenous, aboriginal, and primitive, no other candidates come to mind, so Indigenous Boats it is.
I plan to cover aspects of design and construction, history and culture, boathandling, seamanship, navigation, archaeology, and especially current uses of these craft. I'm actively seeking input -- articles, comments, book recommendations or reviews (or books for review), photos, video clips, links, comments -- if you're interested in this topic (or any aspect of it), please let me know, send me some stuff, and let's work together to make this an interesting, wide-ranging resource for a wide-ranging selection of boat types.
Monday, 13 March 2017
National Safe Boating Week Post 2
Today for National Safe Boating Week we are going to talk about EPIRBs and PLBs. An EPIRB stands for Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon and PLB stands for Personal Locator Beacon. Both EPIRBs and PLBs operate on the 406 MHz signal using the same COSPAS-SARSAT Satellite system, which is directly monitored by Search and Rescue Personnel.
Different boaters will have a different need when it comes to choosing an EPIRB or PLB, although both units operate the same way there are key differences in each unit. EPIRBs have a longer battery life and they are designed to float upright in the water when tethered to a person or life raft. You can get and EPIRB in an automatic and manual activation model. PLBs will have a lower battery operating time and will all be manual activation. The good thing about a PLB is the size and potability you can take with you for all of your land based adventures as well.
When choosing the right EPIRB or PLB remember to stay away from gadget devices, remember only a device that operates on the 406MHz signal is an EPIRB or PLB. These will be the only units using the COSPAS-SARSAT system and monitored by rescue authorities. While gadgets have a place and a purpose but should not be your only signaling source for emergencies.
Coast Guard Rescues 3 They had a PLB
Here are Other posts about PLBs
PLBs are not Gadgets
If you missed the Kick off to National Safe Boating Week find it Here
There is no doubt that EPIRBs and PLBs save lives, they also cut down on search and rescue time as well as the expense.
If you are injured or in the water you want the Rescue Authorities there as soon as possible.
Here is a good note from the Coast Guard about upgrading to an EPIRB or PLB with a GPS signal built into the unit.
Saturday, 4 March 2017
Post Industrial Wilderness
This trip is long overdue. I've been occupied with journeys to places that still possess some wildness, even though in some cases they were the unseen underbellies of cities. Rivers, by nature of a certain amount of untameableness, can maintain a buffer between the built world... sometimes they just erase the built world.
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| coal fired power plant |
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| Osprey nest on coal conveyor |
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| Elephant |
Somehow, it still holds on as a wild place. It's not the few osprey and egrets or the night heron near the old brick arch culvert, nor is it the vegetation, which is pretty much non-existent, replaced by broken cement rip-rap, walls and pilings. It's more that it remains inaccessible from land. Industrial lots wall off the water from people much more effectively than a forest. The few people that I do see greet me and are curious to find out what I am doing..."no, I don't fish...I'm just looking around" (not that I would eat anything that came from this water, ever).
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| Black crowned night heron |
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