Where’s Our Boat?

February 6, 2014

We used to play “where’s our house” when we’d hike in the local mountains.  Inevitably, we’d get to a good overlook and  start the game.  I was always tempted to paint some kind of bright design on our roof to make it easier.  Now we play “where’s Legacy?”

Our mast just visible with it's two blue stripes.
Our mast just visible with its two blue stripes.

And the game is easier with our two blue stripes.  Above is the view yesterday from Motutapu with our mast just sticking out above the trees.

Someone asked us once if we were from Ventura.  Apparently, a rigger there, who I think was named Bob Buoy, used to paint distinct stripes on client’s masts. He called them Buoy Bars.  We came up with the idea through convergent evolution and it’s been very handy, not just for our game.  We can tell people, “just look for the two blue stripes at the top of our mast.”

Here’s a closer picture and some more reasons for the stipes. -Rich

Right Back Atcha!

February 6, 2014

This was the view a few weeks ago of Rangitoto Island from the Auckland Skytower…

The obviously volcanic Rangitoto Island in the distance.
The obviously volcanic Rangitoto Island in the distance.

And the view of the Skytower from the rim of the volcanic crater on Rangitoto Island a few days ago…

Auckland in the distance on a hazy day - click to enlarge.
Auckland in the distance on a hazy day – click to enlarge.

Both spectacular views.  -Rich

We’re at Rangitoto… No, Motutapu…

February 4, 2014

Looking out of the quiet bay this morning with Rangitoto on the right and Motutapu on the left.
Looking out of the quiet bay this morning with Rangitoto on the right and Motutapu on the left.

Whether we’re at Rangitoto or Motutapu just depends on which way the wind blows as we’re anchored in the isthmus directly between the two islands.

Zoom on the map, or pan and you’ll see that we made a harrowing, 10 mile trip from Auckland yesterday. It took almost two hours! Two hours and we’re in a different world. It feels good to be out and about again.

Somewhere up there, there is a break between the two islands, at least at high tide. We'll get in the dinghy and look for it today.
Somewhere up there, there is a break between the two islands, at least at high tide. We’ll get in the dinghy and look for it today.

Why do I have this sinking feeling that I’ll be back in Cyndi’s “Legacy Boot Camp” today? Maybe because there’s supposed to be a wonderful hike to the extinct (hopefully) caldera on Rangitoto. -Rich

Wikipedia During a Passage?

January 24, 2014

We have an offline copy of Wikipedia on our computer and it’s been very handy.  It’s just a text version – no pictures, but we use it a lot: on passages, in bays with no internet, or when the internet is too slow or expensive to use.  Lots of people ask us how we do this. Here’s the answer…

We use a program called Wiki Taxi that can be found here to unpack and display the Wikipedia data.

You can download the latest English Wikipedia data here.  You want the file with a name like this: enwiki-latest-pages-articles.xml.bz2.

The files are HUGE – about 10GB at present.  It’ll uncompress to about twice that size.  It’s hard to download as the slightest problem will cause the download to abort.  I just found out you can use BitTorrent to download the data file.  This is much easier.  Search google for a torrent with a filename like the above.

After you get the data file, you use the file importer that comes with Wiki Taxi to make the data ready for Wiki Taxi to use.

Here’s a nice, short how-to article.

Here’s what the offline version looks like.

The Wiki Taxi offline version of Wikipedia.
The Wiki Taxi offline version of Wikipedia.

I hope this is helpful.  -Rich