Text 4844, 39 rader
Skriven 2005-01-11 15:07:30 av Raymond Yates (1:3613/48)
     Kommentar till en text av Dan Ceppa (1:123/666.0)
Ärende: Motorcycles (was: Pee-Four)
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 DC> On 10 Jan 05  15:31:34, Raymond Yates got back to Peter Knapper
 DC> -> Re: Motorcycles (was: Pee-Four)

 RY>> FWIW the Ploynesions were better sailors centuries before the
 RY>> Europeans, when the Phonecians were still sticking to within
 RY>> sight of land, the Ploynesions were able to navigate from Island
 RY>> to Island with little difficulty.

 DC> I found your use of 'sticking' to be quite funny!

Well, that's what they did, for the longest time. Littoral sailors,
brown-water navy..

 RY>> over 200 stars and where they descend as the night progresses as
 RY>> guideposts. Also they could tell when they were near islands by
 RY>> reading the reflected waves off the shores..

 DC> The maps that they used to record those wave intersections were
 DC> made of sticks.

Sticks? my information suggests it was all memory work, not written down.  I
have a website, though that shows cardinal points inscribed on the polynesian
boats of that period, used for navigation.

 RY>> Amazing really, and somehting I heppened on while studying an
 RY>> entirely different subject. The ability to navigate ocean in "the
 RY>> old way" is still taught, though not by many, and not to many..

 DC> It would be a shame if that gets lost.  It is a tribute to man's
 DC> ingenuity.

recently there was a "finals exam" conducted for apprentice H'ookulas(sp)
Navigators. They sailed from Hawai'i to Tahiti. no charts, no GPS, no compass,
but he old fashioned way.. (yes, they did have nav aids, but they were for
emergency use only, and were locked up..)


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 * Origin: Ray's Rocket Shop - Out to Launch (1:3613/48)