C James

BTW, for our Australian friends, there's a documentary called, 'The Dolphins of Shark Bay', being shown on ABC TV (Australian Broadcasting Commission) this coming Sunday at 7:30 pm -Australian Eastern Standard Time. Many thanks to the person who PM'd me with the info. (I won't name them as they haven't said it's okay to, and as it was a PM it has to be their choice, but I do want to say THANKS!!). CJ

I like this idea, and that link is interesting!!! I've marked it for reading, as soon as I have a chance (hopefully tonight.) * Blue ball Heh, well, umm, I gotta admit, the first thing that came to mind was "blue balls". For anyone who is unaware of the term, the definition is here. * And that’s when the sadness came My reaction was much akin to Cia's. In my case, the death of my father came to mind first. * Coffee "Stuff I cannot live without". I've always loved coffee, even in gradeschool. Interesting ideas, Cia! Hrmm, this is a tough question. I'm rarely accused of having thoughts, let alone creative ones, but I'll try to answer. Three creative thoughts for today... a plot for a short story, a plot twist for a new novel I'm writing (this plot twist wasn't part of the original outline, but I think it improves it), and thirdly, an idea which came to me from out of nowhere while in the supermarket; how a character will die. I knew they were going to die, and the causes, but not exactly how... and ugh, makes me shudder. Why do I write? Motive # 1, to learn how to write. I'm always learning, and still have much to learn. #2, because I love interacting with readers. That's my joy & my reward. #3, it's a compulsion. Anything unusual happen today? Hrmm. I went to the store specifically to get some duct tape. I came out with three things. None of them duct tape. I was home before I realized I'd forgotten the thing I went there for.

Chapter 80 is up.

Chapter 80: Penultimate Pieces It was a beautiful afternoon as Trevor and Shane, in their matching blue running shorts, set out on a counterclockwise run around Rhys Lagoon. Heading south, they kept mainly to the shore, turning east as they reached the southern end. Upon arriving at the shallow entrance to the lagoon, which connected it to the rest of Boat Haven Loop, they paused to look for a way across. It was mid tide, so the water was only a couple of feet deep. That made for an easy

ACK! Hey now... hrmmm... hold on a bit... if your theory is true, then who's to blame for any perceived cliffhangers? Not me, right? We'd have to blame Shane... right?

But... that proves nothing! He could still have been involved in 2006, or, maybe 1997 as well; he might have just started young. :chris: BTW, the wait for 80 is about over. It should be online in under 2 hours. CJ

:blink: Hey... I'm not that bad... er, well, umm, ah... when did this story start posting? ERK, Dec2009, from the look of it. It is now June, 2011, so a year and a half. Wow... Umm, I did originally say his was going to run 20 to 25 chapters total. And oddly, there have been no major plot changes, it's just it takes a lot more words than I assumed to cover some things. It's not that I'm long winded though.. and if need be I can post a 17 page essay on why, exactly, I am not long winded. My sincere thanks to all who have stuck with the story this long. Cape Horn (tip of South America) would be longer, but possibly faster (due to more wind and in favorable directions). It would also be, as you mention, a lot more dangerous. On the flip side, transiting Panama, in the cartel's back yard, would likely have, um, unforeseen consequences. Ohhh!! Benji, I think you're onto something. Bridget, George, and Sanchez as guests aboard Atlantis!! For a charter maybe? That'd be fun... and I think they'd enjoy it. Great idea! And don't worry, if it happens, I'll make sure you get full credit for the idea.

Well done setting up a "universe" and it's "rules" in a short story; that's far from easy. I liked the way your portrayed Alex... he actions were incongruous - until the reveal. Well done!

I can answer a bit about the sat pones and cells. Sat phones are usually dual mode, so can use cell signals when available. Where Trevor and Shane are, they aren't, so it's in sat mode. In the mid 2000's, international calls often came in on caller IDs as "Unavailable", including for cell phones. So, I'd say there is a liklyhood that the caller ID from a sat phone in Australia would come in that way too. Also, you can block caller ID on many phone accounts, so your call does no show on an ID unless you're calling a toll-free number. (those you can't block, because they are paying for the call). I can confirm that this is true: A mayday in the Bahamas likely won't get much response until daylight, and local boaters know it. The first responders would more likley be private boats, such as, as we saw, Bridget, who was among the first on the scene. There are safe corridors in the bahamas at night, such as wide, deep straits between SOME of the islands. The direct route from Nassau to 20 miles NE of Bimini is not amongst them. With GPS you might be okay, but Ares had LORAN, which isn't as accurate. Calm waters... I'd call that two feet or less. So, breezes of 6 knots of less. And HRMM!!! Please, everyone, read the above closely. A Sea Ray Sundancer, in the Florda Straits, making runs to the Bahamas. Sound familiar?? Please bear in mind that Sea Witch (Bridget's boat of many names) is a Sea Ray sundancer !!! And she uses it to make runs to the Bahamas and back. And, furthermore, she does not always get her passport stamped. In fact, that's commomn enough in that era even for those going through customs in the Bahamas: they did not always stamp your passport, and note the wording above; The last time his passport was stamped in the Bahamas. He does not say that was the last time he was there. A further issue here; Rknapp's name is Rob. And where is Sea Witch kept? Rob's Marine! Now, who exactly is this Rob who apparently owns it in partnership with Bridget?!?!?!? So, here we have someone, who has an expert knowledge of local conditions (including things related to the coast guard and Ares disappearance!!!), in the area often, in the same kind of boat Bridget uses, which is operating out of Rob's marine. I think somebody should let Gonzalez know; we have a new suspect!!! Hrmmm.. Very suspicious... And what, exactly, is he up to on that particular island? (Grand Bahama). Trevor visited there early on.. this puts Rob about 30 mile from the disappearance site. What's he there looking for? Bridget was toying with the idea of trying to find Ares herself.. and thanks to finding the debris, she'd have the best idea where Ares went down. Was he there in 1997??? Did he sink Ares??? What nefarious things is he doing there now? Did he go there to meet with Sanchez??? Food for thought indeed!

Yes! I can comment on that: Key lime pies are rumored to be,and actually are, absolutely delicious! I can comment on some of this, the technical possibilities. At the time Rachel sailed from Nassau, Ares would have been capable of at least 14 knots, because Trevor was remembering her doing that. Atlantis can do 15 knots, and they have roughly equivalent engines (more powerful than normal for that kind of boat). Doubling the power doesn't double speed (drag increases roughly as a square of the speed, as I recall) so 15 knots is about as much as you can get out of a hullform like Atlantis's without vastly larger engines. So, a low end for Ares max speed; 14 knots. a top end, 15 knots. I'll confirm that's true. Rachel's broadcast said 20 miles. She, as a captain at sea, would mean nautical miles, which means we can use nautical miles (and knots for speed) for all figuring (which makes it easier). Ares had the same draft as Atlantis; just under 4 feet. That makes the passage between the Berry Islands and Andros island (the roughly straight line route) viable. Here's a link to a chart of the area, with depth readings. You might have to zoom in a bit. Red might be right, and he's sure right about one thing; the safest way is north of Berry Island. But I think the direct route south of it is viable as well, for a boat like Ares, with just a few minor adjustments to the course you plotted. As mentioned in the prologue, Rachel was known to push the limits, sometimes too far. So, she sailed from Nassau. It'd take maybe half an hour to be in the open sea. From that point, a direct run to the reported area is almost exactly 100 nautical miles. At 14 knots for 6 hours, that's 84 nautical miles, so she'd be 16 short. But, that's assuming the water was stationary, which is isn't. We have ocean currents to consider. The average current flow in the area is towards the northwest, the direction Bimini is from Nassau. How fast? It depends on the winds and tides, plus the constricting channels. If you have google earth, look at the pass between Berry island and Andros island; you'll see on the sea floor the signs of the current and the focusing effect of the constriction. On average... it'll be between one and two knots of additional speed (boat speed plus current speed) resulting in an effective 15 to 16 knots over ground. at 16 knots, the best possible speed, that's 96 nautical miles as maximum possible distance. Almost there. Almost. Now, what kind of nav gear was on Ares? Loran, but we don't know the nature of the display. It was 1997 or older. This, it could have been a simple digital readout, like this, or it could have very well had a digital mapping capability. If the latter, it's a bit like looking at a map. You see where you are. You'd see where the island is. But, at a glance, what you would not likely see is the distance to the island. If all you had time for was a glance, or had just been looking aqt it before disaster struck, you could make a guess, which might be a good guess. Or, it might be off, maybe by 10 or 15%? 15% of 20 is 3. Trevor knows there could be accuracy issues, which is why his search area is a few miles wide, centered on the Estimated position in the radio call. Is there a slight distance discrepancy there? Yes. all I can say is that it is not a case of me forgetting to calculate times and distances. Oh, I've made errors like that before (just ask poor Red, who has caught me more than once) but in this case, I didn't.

I'll pick... Bridget! Let's see what she has to say... "I did indeed attempt, at considerable trouble and expense, to deliver the satellite phone to Trevor, contained within a propane tank, along with some dynamite. It had a cell phone mode, which, to my utter disgust, was not activated. The device, regrettably, detonated on a freighter instead of on Atlantis. Most exasperating!" Let's see, who can we choose for that? I'll pick... Red, one of the friendly yachters Trevor met in the Suez, who later took Trevor reef diving in the Red Sea. "Insurance increase? Or a pub crawl? I've changed my mind and I'll take the latter," he declared, immediately prior to sailing right into the dock at ten knots... I'll answer for... the harbormaster near Pompeii, who scared Trevor and Joel (he was actually after a ten euro fee). "It was a too expensive, we decided we coulda not afford it..." 0:)

It's the date Trevor considers the anniversary. One question per post, so this works! I'll answer that question for... Dirk's first attorney, who died... he picked the location in his will, the family burial plot in Albany, New York. He wasn't in much of a condition to do any picking after being declared dead. Yep! And I'm here to answer questions, and I'll be logging in every day to do so.

Julie is in Tahiti, not Australia. Her role, therefor, is being elsewhere than Australia.

Who? Me? I think I mentioned, in the narration, perhaps obliquely, that Bridget was being truthful about that. So, we can rest assured that it's a fact; she did as she said in that case. She told Sanchez the truth, though maybe not the whole truth (she knows that if Sanchez caught her lying, he'd kill her). She was heading for the coordinates in the broadcast. She found the debris, and they are as described. She does not say, but this may or may not have been at the exact coordinates, just in the area. She may have been lying by a few miles; she very much fears Sanchez finding what's really on Ares, so she'd be unlikely to give him the exact location. However, regarding finding the debris, and believing Dirk killed Rachel, those are truthful statements. Bridget believes everything she told Sanchez in the quoted text, and though she might have not told the entire truth on the exact coordinates where she found the debris, she did not lie. One thing this proves: Bridget did not kill Rachel. BTW, this might be a bit of a spoiler, but... Me? Nefarious? One minor comment; the key lime pie was from Shelly Fowler, not the Blakes. We'll be seeing the whole Carnarvon crew again very soon.

I'll be back to answer questions and other posts Wednesday. Just got in after a long drive, so I need to sleep right now. Sorry for the delay.

One issue to bear in mind; we know the actual timeline of the sailing. The coastguard might, or might not. I don't have a chapter to release right now. I am WAY behind, thanks to computer issues, work issues, and a mess of other things. One of them is it's wildfire season here in Arizona, and it's a bad one (one fire alone is pushing half a million acres) so I'm doing some brush and tree clearance around my house (I live in a forest). Chapter 80 is in Emoe's hands, but chapter 81 isn't quite ready to send into beta yet, though I'm going to try to do so tomorrow. That's how far behind I am; I'm normally several ahead. I'll try to get back on track; I'm hoping I'll have more time after mid-week.

She sailed at sunset, then we get the six hours later narrative, then the message. So, she may have been a little ways offshore, but... in order to come close to the reported area, she would have to have been traveling at at least absolute max power (you're right about the wind) . That's kind of unusual, unless there is a good reason for it; it uses a lot of fuel and is hard on the engines. Superb sleuthing! I'll say that the time and distance issue is not an error on my part (I do make errors, lots of 'em!) It's been shown that many sudden mayday calls are a bit off; in the heat of the moment, the victim might not know exactly where they are, and round the numbers a bit. The posts above are superb, and I truly love them. I however am limited in what I can say, but that limitation applies only to me.

Colin, that was clever; you've asked a question that is rather nonsensical for anyone other than Shane, thus outmaneuvering me. One answer that fits for Shane is what he's said; he heard about the lifesaving games event, and decided to go. Part of it though is lingering effects of his mother's death. There are other aspects as well, but I can't get into those just yet... I will say that the chapter named "Ultimate Designs" has its title because it makes everything clear. Hrmmm!!!! Why not? Now would I do a thing like that?

Shane's orientation; now that's a question I can answer! Shane's orientation is almost always upside down; he is, after all, in Australia, where they do most everything upside down. Ned's wife's response.. I can't say much, except that you have a good eye.

Indeed there are risks with switching identities, especially when one of those identities has a hit out on him. Lisa and Joel are indeed in grave danger, with little time remaining to head of disaster.

Thanks! Have a look at my forum, there's a lot more like this there (plus, of course, countless conspiracies against me), and conversations are a bit easier than this format.

The 2011 GA Summer Anthology, "Walk on the Wild Side", is now online! So, I'd like to thank the people who made this possible; Graeme, our Anthology Coordinator. Lugh, who did The "skin" work that makes them look great. The authors and their teams, for giving us the content.

Good one!!! Hrmmm.. an easy one would be, at this point in the story, for Trevor: Crossing thousands of miles of the Southern Ocean alone in a heavily disabled boat. But, that's something known... so let's try one that's unknown at the moment; Jim went bungee jumping several times in college, and tried skydiving once.

Whoa! I didn't say, one way or the other, whether your interpretation was correct. I can't weigh in on stuff like that. I should have been more clear what I was on about; you're right about the 15 and 25 in 1997 being the charter dates. You are also correct about the 28th being the day Trevor thinks of as the anniversary. I can say that because it's been the the posted text, or can be deduced from it, as you have done. However, I can't confirm or deny anything other than that.

I've been bedeviled by computer problems (my desktop system is still dead, and I haven't had time to work on it in nearly two weeks) and work issues (I've been super busy), and most recent chapters have been larger than normal, so, I'm going to have to delay chapter 80, Penultimate Pieces, by one week. Sorry, but there's no other option. In the meantime, here's an idea; Have you ever wanted to know something about a character and wished you could ask and get an honest, true answer? Normally I can't answer, due to spoiler concerns... But, let's waive that, partially, until chapter 80 posts. Here's what I'm offering; Ask any question, any at all, that's about a character. You pick the question, and I pick the character it's asked about, and answer honestly. Sound like fun?