FRANKENSAIL
Sunday, July 6, 2008
To pick up the pace and take full advantage of the winds, Joel created.....FRANKENSAIL. Beautiful she is not, however FRANKENSAIL added a knot of speed to JUNK's progress. Function beats form by a long shot in this situation.
4th of July fiesta - beans and reusables!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
A few posts back, Marcus mentioned a food inventory, and suggested that some belt tightening might be in order. Not sure I believe him after seeing this photo.....
JUNK has some big 4th of July plans, including BEANS, cabbage flowers, and reusables. Sounds like a blast, anyone want to join?
"We will celebrate with beans. Maybe a chunk of cheddar mixed in. To tide us over till the big feast, I tore leaves off one of our few remaining heads of cabbage for an afternoon snack. I noticed something strange in the middle – a flower. I’ve never seen one before in cabbage - reminds us of terrestrial life....
As you plan for your picnic, we suggest reusables at the table. Things like real silverware, plates and napkins. The throwaway disposable stuff never goes “away” - we’re finding it here in the ocean. Two days ago I watched a bottle cap float by. Perhaps long ago, on some past 4th of July, someone dropped that bottle cap. Years and miles later, it’s here.
Coming up: How Joel's new FRANKENSAIL helps JUNK pick up a knot of speed. Read more!
Posted by Anna at 2:32 PM 7 comments
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Kudos from AMRF Board members
The Board members of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation would like to acknowledge the tremendous achievements of Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Joel Paschal, now one month into their journey across the Pacific Ocean on JUNK
This ambitious mission to bring Algalita’s research on plastic debris to a wider audience has already been a success, as evidenced by coverage in numerous media channels – most recently a wonderful piece in the LA Times.
For the past ten years, Algalita has been leading the charge to research, quantify, and communicate the ecological impacts of plastic pollution on the marine environment. We are now working to expand our research to identify the manner in which plastic impacts our marine environment with greater specificity.
The Board is pleased to see that the JUNK expedition is bringing public attention to our research findings -- effective communication is key to our foundation’s success. Joel and Marcus, we stand behind your inspiring efforts with pride, and send you our best wishes for a safe and speedy return.
Sincerely,
AMRF Board of Directors.
One month milestone: knot for naught
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
“One month ago right now....” is how we’ve begun several conversations today. This morning one month ago I awoke in a bed. This afternoon one month ago we spoke to an audience of at least 300 people bidding JUNK farewell. Though we guessed 6 weeks at sea, looks like there are 8 more to go. We’ve accepted this reality, necessitating that we plan well. Nothing like some long hours at sea for divine inspiration....
We’ve been sailing South-Southwest 190 degrees at .7 knots. We want to go west, in the direction the wind is coming from, the direction of Hawaii. Yesterday we took a section of mast from the deck, lashed it to a spare rudder, and vertically plunged it 4 feet below the boat. This makeshift dagger board improved our progress to 200 degrees an 1.2 knots! This morning Joel finished fabricating a sail from scrap pieces, lots of string and duct tape. That improvement got us up to 215 degrees at 1.8 knots. We’re shaving off the miles and days from Hawaii. Now we’re sailing! But there are cyclones nearby.
Eastern Pacific Tropical Storms are hovering 200 miles south of us. We are hoping that their counterclockwise spin will give us the east wind we need raise our downwind sail. We’re anxious to see what downwind/downcurrent sailing feels like. How much faster will we be able to countdown the miles? As a crow flies, we are 2095 miles from Hawaii. That’s two months or less.
Then there’s food. We’ve done our inventory of food and figure that we can live on what we’ve got, provided we make another spear and get some fish. In the meantime we consume primarily our consumables. Tonight’s dinner we will share one can of beans with half and onion cubed on top. Several large chunks of cheddar cheese will float and melt in the middle of the bowl. Bon appetit!
Junk PSA #2: A Plastic Filled Ocean
Monday, June 30, 2008
Straight from the source: Marcus with #2 out of 8 video PSAs: A Plastic Filled Ocean.
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