- Joined
- Jan 1, 2000
- RO Number
- 385
- Messages
- 2,871
Visited some very neat places while on vacation in Australia and New Zealand. Thought I would share the nautical stuff with you.
First up is Ken Warby's record setting "Spirit of Australia". 317 mph over the water! Sits in the Maritime museum in Sydney. He designed and built it himself in his garage
Next up as I was touring an Australian destroyer retired in 1988 I came across a GPS unit circa 1986. It sat there like it was the crown jewel of the bridge and in 1986 it probably was the bomb. It gives a scale to how far we have come!
While in New Zealand I visited the Waitangi Treaty grounds. One thing that surprised me there is how deeply integrated Polynesian culture is in New Zealand society. Anyway, the Waku is a Maori war canoe. These things were quite effective against Euro war ships because of speed an maneuverability. They would get under the guns and take the ships up close and personal. Typically 50 to 100 feet long they would be carved out of log and rowed about. They would have three positions for rowers, port, starboard and center. The center guy would be relief when high speed was called for.
This example is 117' long! It was carved out of three tree trunks and dovetailed together. A picture of the seam I have included. I hand "calipered" the hull and estimate a thickness of about 5 inches! They said it takes several hundred men to launch them. For ceremonial purposes now they have a track under this one.
Here is the hull seam
Finally there is Lake Taupo. Amazing and beautiful. I swear if you closed your eyes and opened them again and I told you that it was Lake Tahoe you would believe me. They are geologic twins. Taupo has lots of good trout fishing and great boating. I include the Wikipedia reference here as it is pretty good.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Taupo
First up is Ken Warby's record setting "Spirit of Australia". 317 mph over the water! Sits in the Maritime museum in Sydney. He designed and built it himself in his garage
Next up as I was touring an Australian destroyer retired in 1988 I came across a GPS unit circa 1986. It sat there like it was the crown jewel of the bridge and in 1986 it probably was the bomb. It gives a scale to how far we have come!
While in New Zealand I visited the Waitangi Treaty grounds. One thing that surprised me there is how deeply integrated Polynesian culture is in New Zealand society. Anyway, the Waku is a Maori war canoe. These things were quite effective against Euro war ships because of speed an maneuverability. They would get under the guns and take the ships up close and personal. Typically 50 to 100 feet long they would be carved out of log and rowed about. They would have three positions for rowers, port, starboard and center. The center guy would be relief when high speed was called for.
This example is 117' long! It was carved out of three tree trunks and dovetailed together. A picture of the seam I have included. I hand "calipered" the hull and estimate a thickness of about 5 inches! They said it takes several hundred men to launch them. For ceremonial purposes now they have a track under this one.
Here is the hull seam
Finally there is Lake Taupo. Amazing and beautiful. I swear if you closed your eyes and opened them again and I told you that it was Lake Tahoe you would believe me. They are geologic twins. Taupo has lots of good trout fishing and great boating. I include the Wikipedia reference here as it is pretty good.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Taupo