Sunday May 16 - Sixth Day At Sea
 

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"During my year as President I used 'What Paul Harris Said' in my meetings"

DGE Ron & Cindy Sekkel's Travel Log

RI Theme 2004-05

DGE Ron & Cindy Sekkel's Travel Log

Century Builders

Sunday May 16 - Day 6 At Sea - 400 Miles West Of Attu Island

Ahoy 5170 Century Builders,

I have mentioned several times that we are on the Great Circle Route and it occurred to me that you might like to know what that means. The Great-circle route is the shortest, most direct route between two points on the earth¹s surface. A great circle is any circle that divides the globe into equal halves. Its length is the same as that of the equator. On most flat maps, a straight line appears to be the shortest distance between two places.

A great circle route often appears as a longer curve. But maps are not true pictures of the surface of the earth. Maps are flat, but the earth is a sphere. The shortest distance between any two points on the earth can be found easily only on a globe. The shortest distance lies along the great circle passing through the two points. A special kind of map called gnomonic projection shows a great circle route as a straight line.

By taking the Great-circle route from West of Vancouver, BC to Tokyo, Japan we saved almost 400 miles as opposed to sailing “straight” across from Oakland to Tokyo. That is the equivalent of almost one full day extra at sea. Actual sailing time for us is only 8 1/2 days. I told many of you that that it would be 10 days but because we sailed in the evening and arrive in the morning and we loose a day to the International Dateline our actual time is only 8 1/2 days.

In Peregrinations II Paul Harris wrote how seasick his wife Jean was. I am sure if someone would have suggested that going to Yokohama by the Great-circle route she would have saved a day. I think she would have said skip Hawaii go North.

The sea had been rough almost all the way across the Pacific and as they were approaching Japan. She was upset with herself for being so excited about going on this trip. She said that “it would never, never occur again.” Paul then reminded her that she had said the same thing a year ago when they were crossing the Bay of Biscay en route from England to South Africa and reminded her of the fact that her sickness had completed its course in three days, she repeated the memorable words of Edgar Allen Poe¹s raven, “Nevermore”.

It is 5:00PM on the 15th and Cindy and I went up to the Bridge just in time to see us pass a bulk carrier (a ship which carries grain, coal, or ?) on the starboard side who was going in the same Bulk carrier ship indirection as we were but at only 11 Knots per hour instead of our 22 knots per hour. It is certainly nice to be on a ship that does not take 17 days to get to Japan. While we were up there we could see that we were going into a dark cloud area and when we got there it hailed for a few minutes until we got to the other side of it. We were slowly approaching the most West island of the Aleutian Island Chain, Attu Island.

The island is very rugged and rises to a maximum elevation of 3000 feet on its NE side. We passed within 15 miles and we could see through the binoculars provided by the ship that it was entirely covered with snow. There are numerous bays which indent the coasts of the island. At the heads of most of the bays there are huts, locally called “barabaras”, built by the native Aleuts for use during the fur trapping season. We were too far away to see them and I was happy to be inside a temperature controlled ship.

Cindy would like to share a few words. I will go read and try to learn a few Japanese words.

We are slowly approaching the International Date Line. Once we reach that point on the map we will loose a day. According to the Chief Officer we will keep Sunday and then skip to Tuesday. They could have skipped Sunday and gone to Monday but that would mean skipping the day they have ice cream for dessert so Sunday is never a day they throw away.

I am happy to report that this experience continues to be a smooth and pleasant one. We remain dry and comfortable within the living quarters of the ship while all around us is miles of cold arctic water, cloudy skies and occasionally white capped waves.

The majority of the officers, whose primary native language is German, are always very courteous and willing to engage in conversation with us. It is true that they speak English, the language of seagoing vessels. However, I feel fortunate that Ron has the ability to speak German as this permits us to keep a comfortable amount of conversation understood. They are very polite; they even think that Ron speaks well. Ron says they are kinder than most Germans about his speaking ability.

Today was our laundry day and it¹s nice to have the convenience of a stackable washer and dryer. The instructions and information for all the settings are in German. I tried my best to “wing it” but the instructions weren¹t easily understood. I enlisted Ron to assist with reading the instructions. It is a good thing we are not on a ship where neither one of us would know their first language.

Saying goodbye from around 400 miles west of Attu Island in the Bering Sea on the Great Circle Route to Tokyo, Japan. Until we see you on the website tomorrow,

Ron and Cindy

Cindy Relaxing In Cabin

Cindy Relaxing In Their Cabin


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