NASA goes Sailing

plus porpoise interruptus, and other news from the week.

This week scientists, actual scientists, published a paper saying that the noise from sailboat races might bother marine mammals. And… all I can picture is one Dolphin saying to the other:

“Hey, it’s too loud, wanna get out of here?”

Anyways, on to the news.

In today’s letter:

Space Sailing: Cruisin’ on photons.
Race Updates: The Clipper Race and America’s Chrome Cup.
Sailing Snippets: Old Man Steals Sailboat, Porpoise Interruptus, Conscious Cruise Cat, Hey Alex, and the Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show.

Space Sails

Cruisin’ on photons through the final frontier.

In a very Star Trek development, NASA is launching a spacecraft that will use sails to travel through space. The solar sails will get propulsion from photons emitted by the Sun, pushing the sails along. The collapsible booms are 7 meters long, with a total sail area of “about the size of six parking lots”.

It will take the sails 25 minutes to deploy fully. Interestingly, this is about the same amount of time it sometimes takes me to fully deploy sails, after figuring out what the hell the halyard is fouled up on.

Speaking of shiny technology…

Race Updates

America’s Chrome Cup, and The North Pacific comes home.

A very Chrome Cup © Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Clipper Round The World: The first arrivals from the North Pacific leg are due in Seattle starting this Sunday, with Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam leading the pack. The North Pacific Ocean is known as ‘The Big One’ for its extreme conditions and remoteness; at times, the sailors were closer to the International Space Station than other humans on land.

America’s Cup: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli is the third AC75 to be revealed, with the Italians showing off a distinctive chrome hull. There’s an aluminum foil joke to be had here. Someone will find it, surely.

Sailing Snippets

The best winces & winches worth a mention.

An eco-conscious sailing cruise ship.

🧑‍🦯 Old Man Steals Model Sailboat: An elderly gentleman made a low-speed getaway with a model sailboat this week. Security footage shows the man casing the restaurant, before slowly tottering away with his prize. Police are on the lookout for the geriatric pirate.

🐬 Porpoise Interruptus: This scientific paper concluded that noise from spectators watching the 2021 America’s Cup might have been loud enough to bother the sea life. The scientists measured the decibels emitted by the spectator boats, and noted that it was at a volume that may bother Cetaceans, aka whales, dolphins, and porpoises. In theory, the noise from the boats is at the same frequency as the mammal's vocalization range, which would interfere with their communication, migration, and mating.

No word on whether microplastics, pollution, and ocean warming are bothering the Cetaceans, but we’ll do our best to keep the volume down.

🚢 Conscious Cruise Cat: The design is meant to be environmentally conscious (it is still a cruise ship, after all). Norwegian architect YSA Design revealed their concept for a sailing catamaran cruise ship. The design, codenamed Seabreeze, would use 4 50-metre folding sailing wings, and bioethanol fuel as the backup propulsion.

⛵️ Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show: Don’t forget the upcoming boat show! Beat the crowded Fall boat show and check out the new decks and tech on display April 26-28. The official lineup of over 100 vendors and 40 sailboats is here.

🔱 Hey, Alex: She doesn’t sail and she doesn’t like deep water, but our latest subscriber is curious to see what we’re all about. Everyone say Hi to Alex! We’ll make a Pollywog out of you yet.

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