The natural Navigation: The Right Course, Naturally

This weekend I came afresh across the notion that setting sail on a Friday is bad luck. I had heard this before of course, but must have locked it out of my conscience because when I checked my logbook this morning I noted that the most substantial voyage I have ever undertaken, my singlehanded transatlantic, set sail on Friday the 7th of December 2007. I am extremely glad that I didn’t think of this while I was still at sea on that crossing. It would have made me even more uncomfortable than the time I nearly went overboard whilst trying to save my St Christopher’s medal and chain.

If you’re interested in the Friday sailing superstition then there is an excellent entry in the Practical Encyclopedia of Boating by John Vigor.

The worlds of technology, navigation and nature convened in a mildly surreal way over the past month.

Satellite navigation development, like all things space-related, often appears to be governed more by national pride than calm pragmatism. Nobody has yet explained effectively to me the need for billions to be invested in Galileo, the European alternative to the American GPS system. The Russian version of GPS, GLONASS, has not been a story of relentless success or necessity either, but apparently the system has now been tested on Vladimir Putin’s dog.

‘Mr Ivanov said that the equipment goes on a standby mode when “the dog doesn’t move, if it, say, lies down in a puddle.”

Mr Putin interrupted him jokingly: “My dog isn’t a piglet, it doesn’t lie in puddles.’

I gave a lecture at the Clothworker’s Hall in the City last night. I think it went well, no rotten fruit or vegetables came my way at least. It did mean a night in a hotel and the need to fill some time in the usual Alan Partridge style. It was at the hotel that I read the cover story in this month’s National Geographic about light pollution. All stargazers are aware of the problem and I thought that this was a story that had been done pretty thoroughly, but the NG approach was fresh and made for a satisfying read.

One sentence caused me to pause and then reread. After a second reading my jaw my have dropped a touch:

‘In the south Atlantic the glow from a single fishing fleet—squid fishermen luring their prey with metal halide lamps—can be seen from space, burning brighter, in fact, than…

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Leonardo da Vinci is among the great and the good to have noted that tree growth is not symmetrical, it is heavily influenced by the wind and the sun. One of the consequences is a growth bias towards the south (in the northern hemisphere). This can normally be spotted more easily in the branches of a living tree, but a tree that has been cut down can also yield its secrets through its rings.

As the tree funnels its sap and energy towards the sun its trunk bends and distorts. This leads to thicker growth on the opposite, northern side and means that the heart of the tree is more likely to be found closer to the southern edge of the bark.

The theory is sound and it does work, but it can take a bit of practice to use well. The four pictures above are of…

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My posting this morning started me thinking about sun tan lotions. They have such great names: Hawaiian Tropic, Ambre Solaire, Bronze Ambition, even Piz Buin. These could be the names of Bond girls. Could this be because our love of the sun is so closely related to our need for escapism and fantasy?

There are three words that you are unlikely to see together in the same sentence ever again. What is my excuse here? There is a well-known relationship between sunshine and moss or lichen growth, but there are subtler, more interesting ones as well. I have lost count of the number of people who have confidently told me that moss only grows on the north side of trees and buildings. I have dealt with that partial myth elsewhere, but here I want to explore a rarely-noted trend.

In England and large parts of northern Europe mosses and lichens will often grow on the south side of trees and buildings, but they will nearly always display differences to nearby brethren growing on the north side. The crucial thing to remember is that we are dealing with trends and patterns when observing nature, avoiding rules wherever possible. The navigator who tries to…

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