{"id":2016,"date":"2024-08-04T05:02:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-04T09:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/?p=2016"},"modified":"2024-08-17T11:44:48","modified_gmt":"2024-08-17T15:44:48","slug":"my-uncle-the-sailing-rocket-scientist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/index.php\/2024\/08\/04\/my-uncle-the-sailing-rocket-scientist\/","title":{"rendered":"My Uncle, the Sailing Rocket Scientist"},"content":{"rendered":"
Afterword<\/em><\/h6>\n

My uncle Hugh, Captain Bear, completed his earthly voyage yesterday, August 3, 2024. He passed quickly and quietly with his loved ones nearby. For as long as we have been on Aleta he was our shore-based support, managing our snail mail and keeping a virtual light on in the window for our return. <\/em><\/p>\n

An avid reader of this blog, he was surprised that he was the inspiration for our journey. But having grown up and learned the joys of cruising with him, he should not have been. He was very proud his erstwhile foredeck crewman had risen to captain of his own boat. We shall heartily miss Hugh’s love of life, his generosity of spirit, and his bottomless well of terrible puns.<\/em><\/p>\n

“May the Sentinel of earth, sky and sea,<\/em>
\nWatch over you as you sail the deeps,<\/em>
\nAnd guide your ship through calm and storm,<\/em>
\nAnd keep your spirit safe and warm.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

This post was originally published January 9, 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

Guidance<\/h6>\n

If there\u2019s one person to blame for this adventure it would be my Uncle Hugh. You see, sometime in the late 1960s, after nearly a decade at MIT mashing together bleeding edge hardware and software into a fully functioning Apollo Guidance Computer*<\/a> (AGC), Hugh took up sailing. To give you some idea of the importance of his work at Draper Labs you should watch Hugh on PBS\u2019s NOVA episode: Apollo’s Daring Mission<\/a>. Or better yet read his memoir, Left Brains for the Right Stuff \u2013 Computers, Space, and History<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The AGC<\/a> was the first computer to empower humans do something that as a species we could not otherwise achieve. Computers doing cool stuff today is pretty banal, but 50 years ago Hugh\u2019s work was pure science fiction. His work designing galactic navigation systems made sailboat racing out of Marblehead a walk in the park.<\/p>\n

Sailing was deemed to be a good thing in our family and my mother actively encouraged it. With much hilarity we\u2019d sail our small red dinghy across Scargo Pond during our long summers on Cape Cod. Sailing with Hugh in those days was a rare treat for us kids and always thrilling when we got the chance. After my parent\u2019s divorce, summers at the Cape became less frequent and fortunately the Chicago Park District filled the gap with (low cost) summer sailing programs.<\/p>\n

I got older, traveled the world, and eventually returned to Massachusetts in the early 1990s. All the while Hugh and his wife Vicki lived in Cambridge, MA, and sailed whenever they could with their kids, Robbie and CC.<\/p>\n

Mashantam<\/h6>\n

By that time Hugh\u2019s boat Mashantam, a lovingly cared for 35\u2019 Vind\u00f6, was moored in Marion, MA. Marion is a pretty little harbor town roughly 90 minutes southeast of Boston. For many years Hugh and I day-sailed around Buzzard\u2019s Bay, with an occasional overnighter if our schedules permitted. The arrangement was I would bring the beer and Hugh would bring the boat. It was a good deal.<\/p>\n

Sailing with a captain that could (quite literally) navigate to the Moon and back, furthermore a Yankee that knows Buzzard\u2019s Bay like the back of his slide rule, meant this lubber had no excuse for not learning the fundamentals of chart and compass coastal navigation. This was a transitional period for navigational technologies. Consumer-grade GPS was still expensive in those early days and deemed a luxury. Mashantam\u2019s old Bendix radio direction finding unit (RDF) had retired along with most of the beacons. Nevertheless, the RDF was left in place atop a salon locker where it secured two winch handles, stuffed on either side and bulwarked by fiddles running around the top of the locker.<\/p>\n

Foredeck<\/h6>\n

At Mashantam\u2019s helm I learned how to hold a course and how to anticipate the roll of the sea and how to compensate early when steering downwind. Eventually, I could feel the current under my feet (just as Auntie Vicki said I should), and I got very good at spotting buoys a long way off. On Mashantam\u2019s foredeck I learned the joys of hanking on and hanking off the jib. And how to flake the sail in the width of the side deck. I also learned how to reef Mashantam\u2019s mainsail \u2013 the old way, with reef knots.<\/p>\n

More valuable was assimilating Hugh\u2019s style of sailing. Here are a few things every sailor should consider:<\/p>\n