NavList:

As I mentioned earlier, I'm trying to organize a possible navigation gathering at Mystic Seaport for the fall of 2007. It's a great season to talk about celestial navigation.

 

October of 2007 is the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, which spawned the whole satellite revolution in navigation. October of 2007 is as well the 300th anniversary of the wreck of Clowdisley Shovell's fleet on the Isles of Scilly which in many ways inspired the eighteenth century push for scientific navigation and inevitably longitude. The year 2007 is also the fiftieth anniversay of the publication of the newly unified "Nautical Almanac" (with data for the year 1958) combining the British and American almanacs. Although the titles were not unified for two more years, the publication itself has scarcely changed in fifty years.

 

Ken Gebhart wrote:

"If you are thinking about Sept 2007, there are several other events which
list members may wish to combine with such a trip (I have always believed if
the list of things you can do on a trip gets long enough, you will make the
trip).  The Newport Boat show (which is nearby) will take place from 13-16
Sept. If you are thinking about late Sept., the Annapolis Sail Boat Show
(the largest in the World) will be early on 4-8 Oct.  Both of these events
are on weekends, so you may wish to consider the Mystic gathering for
weekdays."

 

Thanks. Those are excellent ideas. I am trying to get as many people thinking about scheduling options as possible.

 

Greg R wrote:

"It's a ways off to make definite plans, but you can put me down as 'interested'."

 

Excellent. We have no definite plans yet in any case. I'm trying to work with the folks at Mystic Seaport to get this organized really early.

 

 

Jean-Philippe Planas wrote:

"It is a long way from Europe, therefore I am not likely to attend even though I would have liked to!"

 

Well, have a look at the value of the dollar in six months. With European interest rates on the rise, and a potential recession in the US, it's very possible that the dollar will be down considerably in 2007 (do not trade on this opinion!). If it is, you may find that a trip to Connecticut is too cheap to resist.

 

Robert Eno wrote:

"You could put me down as a "maybe".

I generally stay put from July to mid-October, not surprisingly, because
that is the prime seafaring season up here. As you can understand, in my
part of the world, open water season is a precious commodity for boaters.

But I recognize the world does not revolve around my schedule. And I will
never say "never"."

 

I certainly see your point, but we would love to get you down here. If we schedule a little later in September or even the beginning of October, does that help you?

 

By the way, does anyone have an advance hurricane schedule for 2007? That might make life difficult for us...