By: Matt Rutherford On: August 17, 2013 In: North Atlantic Sargasso Sea Gyre Comments: 0
By: Matt Rutherford On: July 29, 2013 In: North Atlantic Sargasso Sea Gyre Comments: 0

This last week has both frustrating and rejuvenating. 16 hours after we cut the tow line connecting us to the 48 foot swan our main halyard broke making it impossible to raise our mainsail. The winds were building out of the west which would have normally made sailing west...

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By: Matt Rutherford On: July 22, 2013 In: North Atlantic Sargasso Sea Gyre Comments: 0

The day after we finished our research we were sitting on the back of the boat enjoying an early dinner. Nikki suddenly stopped eating and said ‘look there is a sail boat over there’. It looked strange to me as the sails were not up and it seemed to...

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By: Matt Rutherford On: July 17, 2013 In: North Atlantic Sargasso Sea Gyre Comments: 0

After 26 days of deploying and redeploying our Manta net day and night we have finally finished collecting the micro plastic samples and can head for home. It’s a good thing as those man-o-war Jellyfish have really done a number to Nikki’s hands and her eyes are still red...

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By: Nicole Trenholm On: July 3, 2013 In: North Atlantic Sargasso Sea Gyre Comments: 0

Its morning, I’m barely standing in the head while the boat heals 25 degrees and I’m applying a last coat of cortisone to my jelly stung speckled hands and retiring my hand sewn heart-shaped eye patch that served as a shield for my jelly sting inflicted eyeball to rest...

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By: Matt Rutherford On: June 28, 2013 In: North Atlantic Sargasso Sea Gyre Comments: 0

We changed our route a bit and decided to go further north and south and a bit less east to west. When we are done with our plastics survey we will have drawn a big W in the mid-Atlantic. At this point we have surveyed 15 out of 50...

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By: Matt Rutherford On: June 17, 2013 In: North Atlantic Sargasso Sea Gyre Comments: 0

It’s pretty funny to think we had to sail 2,200 miles just to get to the place where we can start doing or primary research. Talk about a long commute to work! Then again the eastern side of the North Atlantic Gyre is nowhere near the Chesapeake Bay. At...

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My encounters with weather observing took off at age 17 in Pennsylvania at The Willogrove Naval Airbase then The Philadelphia International Airport where I would shadow weather observers and learn how routine weather reporting supports the coordination of safely clearing airplanes for departure and arrival. Isn’t the need for...

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By: Matt Rutherford On: June 9, 2013 In: North Atlantic Sargasso Sea Gyre Comments: 0

The hurricane season has officially started with tropical storm Andrea. We’ll be feeling her effects on the 11th. Looking at the tracking device on the web site you can see the moment I found out about Andrea as I turned south to get some separation from the eye of...

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By: Matt Rutherford On: June 3, 2013 In: North Atlantic Sargasso Sea Gyre Comments: 0

Our first few days at sea went by with an easy 10-15 knots on the quarter.  On the forth day the wind died and at around midnight I turned on a deck light and went outside the pilot house to adjust a lifeline. The wind had decreased to such...

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