The Journeyman – Ocean Search testboat is currently resting in Piriapolis, at the mouth of Rio de la Plata in Uruguay. Getting ready for the most exciting leg of the journey so far. If you want to be part of this journey, now is the time to start planning. We will be leaving Uruguay sometime in November, and sail south, possibly to South Georgia (depending on crew wishes and timing) but certainly to the Falkland Islands and then down to Cape Horn and Ushuaia.
Want to join: http://journeyman.se
Journeyman are sailing again after som repairs in Bahia, Brazil. Heading for Rio de Janeiro. Look where they are.
We now have a Twitter feed from Searcher no 1:Journeyman into the Oceansearch data stream. We’ll be able to send a small text along with each environment sample, this is send every hour using a satellite link. Follow me here.
Jop Japenga´s Master-thesis about Ocean Search from Department of Industrial Design Eindhoven University of Technology was presented as part of the Dutch Design Week.
Jop has through his work explored stakeholder drives and future value exchange between research, sailors and public. The report dicusses a design of a platform for oceanic research to explore a future lifestyle. Liquid Living explores a potential future way of living through a combination of design and research. It is looks at a number of trends currently happening in society and technology, and at a future in which we construct our own identities, through mediated connections, in a place loose from location. In order to address this abstract future way of living, a current day design case ‘Ocean Search’ is used. It is a large project that creates a kit of sensors that measure different values of water quality that can be installed on regular sailing boats. As sea sailors travel around the oceans they will collect data for oceanic researchers to use. As part of liquid living, possible ways in which platform for oceanic data collection and communication might be set up are explored. Specific focus in this initial iteration lies with underlying motivations of people to join and with the sailors interface to the platform.Different design methodologies are applied in each step that works to a more specific idea of what the platform looks like. Through taking these steps for this specific design case, the perception of liquid living will change as well. It is the relation between the design action and the understanding of abstract futures that is the final reflection of this project.
Video Scenario: A video-log of a sailing trip to investigate an oceanic Eddy. On a satellite image of an offshore area, scientists discovered a region of unusually high primary production, which appeared to be related to an unusually large oceanic eddy. The scientists were interested in getting a snapshot of water characteristics (Temperature and Salinity) as well as estimates of nutrients and to actually measure the primary production (to verify the measurements taken from satellite). They also wanted information about the presence of other organisms such as fish, seabirds and marine mammals, which may use this unusual structure as a feeding ‘hotspot’.
Through a platform for oceanic research they found a sailor with the right sensors nearby, and requested him to visit the spot, take some measurements and have a look. Also, since these eddies often trap debris, local marine reserve managers were worried that an oil slick from an oil tanker that just cleaned its tanks in the vicinity will get trapped in the eddy and cause disturbance to the animals using this feeding hotspot. The organization asked the sailor to look out for evidence of such, either visual at the surface or through sensor measurements of the water itself.
The Master report can be downloaded from http://www.jopjapenga.nl/download/FinalReportLiquidLiving.pdf
During the initial trip for Searcher no1 Journeyman between Stockholm and Ystad we could physically see some of the great challenges for the Baltic Sea. First have a look on the map; nine countries sharing the same water – not a walk in the park to find a political consensus, some serious differences. And the challenge gets worse; the Baltic Sea has a serious size problem. The deepth never really goes underneath 60 meters and even if we caught some heavy weather going south it takes some serious storms to stir the water enough to transport oxygen to the bottom. This also means that the water volume is more sensitive to pollution and eutrophication (the effect from to much pig-shit in the water) and this one of the reasons that the Baltic Sea sadly are on the top-list for most polluted seas in the world.
Heavy traffic, night sailing at 2 a clock in the morning in rough weather a bit south of Hanöbukten you realize the figures presented in a Baltic Sea report from SIWI, you don´t want to be in the fairway. The AIS system is just drowned with cargo-ships with funny names going in 14 knots. I don´t want to think about if something serious happens - at any given time, approximately 3500 ships are on the sea, including 2000 large ships such as oil tankers and cargo ships. This increases the risk of accidents and pollution incidents. Only 3 % of the water is exchanged annually. As a result it takes approximately 25-30 years for the Sea to replenish itself, meaning that any environmental damage may be sustained for a long time.
As the Captain of Journeyman, Jesper Weissglas, so wisely put it after me being impressed by the fact that we didn’t do any steering for 6 hours on our leg entering into Hanöbukten . “Lock the rudder and let the sails do the steering” – That´s exactly what we have to do in the Baltic Sea situation, create a common understanding and together change the game-play. It is all about people!
And the day has come for Searcher no 1: Journeyman to leave Stockholm and set sails for the Baltic Sea, the Atlantic and in a 11 months arrive to World Expo2012, Yeosu, South Korea. If you want to participate somewhere on this exciting exploration have look at the Journeyman planning calender.
We are celebrating with a going away party in Fisksätra Marina in Stockholm the 17th of September, kl. 16.00. More information.
Välkommen och besöka Journeyman i hamn på Marstrand – Regatta dagarna. Vi kör öppet hus mellan kl 17-18 både fredag och lördag 29-30 Juli.
Ocean Search first data serie in the Baltic Sea, as you can see Journeyman never went around Gotland. No wind….
for days, so we decided to go up to Gotska Sandön.
Algea blooming, the summer-horror of the Baltic Sea was starting to show.
During the race we will be publishing images and climate sample data live. Images are updated every 60 seconds and are available on the Live Image Stream page. You can see the latest climate sample data to the left. Click on the tracker window link to see passed samples on the map.
Ocean Search have been invited by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) to present at World Water week the 24th of August.
Searcher No1: Journeyman Stories
