I once wrote:   beauty in cities is a momentary oasis in a vast desert of ugliness.

        That may be a little harsh.  But cities are full of gratuitous, banal clutter to which we become so accustomed that it no longer seems to register on our brains, though I expect that cumulatively it does.  The lack of clutter, visual purity, is one of the things I love about being far at sea.

        I stepped into an oasis of beauty last Sunday afternoon when I attended Evensong at an Episcopal church just down the street from our condo.  As with most things in my life, the link was sailing.  The rector of that church owns a boat about the size of GANNET and, knowing my appreciation of classical music, had sent me a link to a recording of the church choir singing requiems by Faure and Durufle.

        The experience was transcendent, precisely as it was meant to be.

        The organ, the choir and the physical space were all beautiful.  Music.  Arches.  Stained glass.  A church of human scale.  Large enough to elevate thought, but not like the great cathedrals so huge as to dwarf the individual into insignificance.

        I found myself wondering how ordinary people could have created such beauty.  But then, of course, they are not ordinary and they are inspired.

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        I’ve never owned a nautical calculator because they cost too much.  Several hundred dollars seems excessive when I can reduce a sight with a pencil and notepad in a matter of seconds.

        However, James of Sasquatch fame, recently advised me of an iPad app, iMarinerHD, which only costs $19.99 and, as far as I can tell, does everything a celestial navigator needs.  Sight reduction at a tap.  Easy fixes based on two sights.  The Nautical Almanac until 2169, which should be long enough.  Even a solar compass that enables a sailor to use the iPad to get a true bearing of the sun, useful in checking the ship’s compass.

        $19.99 is about what a paper copy of the Nautical Almanac costs for a single year.  I bought and downloaded iMarinerHD and look forward to putting it to use.

       

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        The piece that ran last month in CRUISING WORLD about my first experiences with GANNET has been added to the articles page.  This is the full version.

        I called the piece just ‘Gannet’ but have kept CW’s title, ‘Gannet Takes Flight’ to avoid possible confusion in the future.

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        The photo is a posterized image of the night view out our west windows.  In keeping with the first part of this post, some of the lights, particularly on the right, seem to me to resemble stained glass.