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The Boat Competition

Earlier in the trip I had joined a team in the 'build your own boat' competition.  Now it was time for the float-off.

The challenge was to build a boat not longer than 3 feet or higher than 2 that would survive a tsunami in the larger pool (a crew member 'bombing' nearby); carry six cans of drink for more than a minute without sinking; and sail the length of the pool, being 'whooshed' along if necessary by a team member, but not touched.

Bob Mason was elected captain and immediately began designing a part raft, part outrigger, rigged with sails resembling those on the local boats. Doug Truscott joined the team. We wanted bamboo but a local guy on Kiriwina suggested 'raintree'. Bob got him to cut around 15 linear metres, mostly of 3cm diameter sticks, with his bush knife (machete).

Two rafts would sit atop the two swimming pool 'noodles' I'd purchased in Brisbane that I estimated had sufficient displacement to carry six cans, together with Bob's superstructure. I'd already cut these in half and bound the four bits in pairs with duct tape - later removed - as twine was more aesthetic.

On Kiriwina we also purchased a couple of locally carved figures as crew for our vessel. My locally purchased figure would be the helmsman.

 

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The helmsman - incompetent as it turned out
when not steering he was praying - it seldom works

 

Bob, our major enthusiast, also purchased a lifeboat. Doug had acquired some smaller crew in Brisbane.

 

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Our entry in the boat building competition

 

The sails were involuntarily provided by Cunard.

Ours, when finally tested, as it had never been in water, was by far the most seaworthy - and the fastest. It actually sailed away with no encouragement.

Our wives were roped in as a cheer squad (a bit sexist but boys will be boys). Wendy was cameraperson.

 

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My she was yar!

 

 

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The other three teams also built boats that passed all the tests.  Apparently that's unusual - some usually sink after being loaded or bombed - much to the delight of the audience.

 

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Two of our competitors - the one on the left about to be 'bombed' by the guy in the air

 

Unfortunately on the final race, our boat, well ahead to that point, crashed into the pool ladder near the finish line and the rules precluded Bob pulling it free. He was in the water ready to 'woosh' but our boat sailed off so quickly that he couldn't get there to woosh it away in time.

So we lost by a single point. The final race was worth seven and a half points. We never found out what happened to the half.

But most agreed that we had won 'hands down' so we had to have a couple of drinks to celebrate.

 

 

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Travel

Russia

 

 

In June 2013 we visited Russia.  Before that we had a couple of weeks in the UK while our frequent travel companions Craig and Sonia, together with Sonia's two Russian speaking cousins and their partners and two other couples, travelled from Beijing by the trans-Siberian railway.  We all met up in Moscow and a day later joined our cruise ship.  The tour provided another three guided days in Moscow before setting off for a cruise along the Volga-Baltic Waterway to St Petersburg; through some 19 locks and across some very impressive lakes.

Read more: Russia

Fiction, Recollections & News

The Craft - Preface

 

 

 

Preface: 

 

The Craft is an e-novel about Witchcraft in a future setting.  It's a prequel to my dystopian novella: The Cloud: set in the the last half of the 21st century - after The Great Famine.

 As I was writing The Cloud, I imagined that in fifty years the great bulk of the population will rely on their Virtual Personal Assistant (VPA), hosted in The Cloud, evolved from the primitive Siri and Cortana assistants available today. Owners will name their VPA and give him or her a personalised appearance, when viewed on a screen or in virtual-reality.

VPAs have obviated the need for most people to be able to read or write or to be numerate. If a text or sum is within view of a Cloud-connected camera, one can simply ask your VPA who will tell you what it says or means in your own language, explaining any difficult concepts by reference to the Central Encyclopaedia.

The potential to give the assistant multi-dimensional appearance and a virtual, interactive, body suggested the evolution of the: 'Sexy Business Assistant'. Employing all the resources of the Cloud, these would be super-smart and enhance the owner's business careers. Yet they are insidiously malicious, bankrupting their owners and causing their deaths before evaporating in a sea of bits.  But who or what could be responsible?  Witches?

Read more: The Craft - Preface

Opinions and Philosophy

Energy Solutions

 

 

 

 

Most informed commentators agree that Australia needs a better mix of energy sources.  We are too dependent on fossil fuel.  This results in a very high rate of carbon dioxide production per capita; and this has international and domestic implications in the context of concerns about climate change.

Read more: Energy Solutions

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