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In the Mediterranean Sea the winds predictably reverse (and have for centuries) so sailors would schedule around when they were blowing favorably in the right d

In the Mediterranean Sea the winds predictably reverse (and have for centuries) so sailors would schedule around when they were blowing favorably in the right direction. They might wait days within the cycle to get the best conditions. You're welcome.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
Before the lateen sail. https://www.britannica.com/technology/lateen-sail https://www.britannica.com/technology/lateen-sail (and a deep keel)
- ip26 4y ago
  Yet, without such favorable conditions to develop sailing, would the lateen have been invented? (technology ladder theory) The more we learn about the Mediterranean, the more I am struck that it was the perfect crucible, and that it is no accident it was the epicenter of so much in human history.
  - samatman 4y ago
    Maybe, maybe not, but there are other ways to sail upwind, such as the proa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proa . When it comes to basic applications of fundamental machines (this is ultimately a use of leverage), humans have a way of figuring it out.
  - ncmncm 4y ago
    People were sailing out of sight of land at least 40,000 years ago around southeast Asia, and possibly even up along the Aleutians and down the West coast of the Americas. What we are certain about is that they reached Australia. There was never any way to get there except via multiple such crossings. Whether this happened via Sulawesi and Papua New Guinea, or via Bali, Lombok, and Timor, or both, nobody knows. But at the time Papua New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania were all one island we call Sahul, and most of the sea between Indonesian islands was rich river bottom land, going on a million square miles of it we now call Sundaland, connecting with Taiwan and what is now all beneath the South China and Yellow seas all the way to Korea. People lived there for tens of thousands of years before the sea began to rise 20,000 years ago, continuing until 8000 ya, 200m in all, with 80m between just 12,000 and 8000 ya. The oldest cave paintings we know of are in what were then the mountains of Sulawesi, hauntingly similar to what shows up all over Europe from Czech to Spain tens of millennia later. When the water rose, people had to move uphill to where other people were already living. Australian oral histories still record resolutions of conflicts over that event.
gerdesj 4y ago
The Middle of the World sea is mostly land locked. Close to land the winds run off shore (away from the shore) in the morning and then back to on shore (point towards the shore) in the afternoon. This is because in the morning the land is relatively cool and in the afternoon it is relatively warm. The thermal gradient above the land and sea then determines the wind direction. This pattern is mostly seen in the summer and less so in the other three seasons, when it gets a bit more random. Now it all gets a bit complicated depending on which bit of sea is being affected by which bit of land. On top of that the Med has weather systems just like everywhere else and they can get a bit feisty. Early in the (Christian) New Year you get the big old winds like the Ghibli and co dumping sand into your Brandy Sour. I lived in Cyprus for two years back in the 1980s and spent quite a lot of that time in and on the water.
- gerdesj 4y ago
  I have now actually read the article. It seems that no sailors were harmed in it. I really don't buy this article's premise. Even a vessel with run only sails can plot a course by working out which bit of land is affecting the patch of sea they are traversing. In the areas where land doesn't have a direct effect, you get to play the usual lottery with wind and weather. Even when the wind is against them, they should be able to manage slightly better than a "abeam close reach" so go slightly against the wind. "Modern mariners can tack against the wind by setting the sails at sharp angles. That wasn’t feasible 2,400 years ago because sails were fixed then." No they were not "fixed" at all - look at the picture of the replica - it is running close hauled. The sail is tied off fore and aft and not at right angles to travel. The article literally contradicts itself with photo evidence. If you look really closely at the modern yacht with a Bermuda rig - it's sails are luffing!

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

Before the lateen sail. https://www.britannica.com/technology/lateen-sail https://www.britannica.com/technology/lateen-sail (and a deep keel)

ip26 4y ago
Yet, without such favorable conditions to develop sailing, would the lateen have been invented? (technology ladder theory) The more we learn about the Mediterranean, the more I am struck that it was the perfect crucible, and that it is no accident it was the epicenter of so much in human history.
- samatman 4y ago
  Maybe, maybe not, but there are other ways to sail upwind, such as the proa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proa . When it comes to basic applications of fundamental machines (this is ultimately a use of leverage), humans have a way of figuring it out.
- ncmncm 4y ago
  People were sailing out of sight of land at least 40,000 years ago around southeast Asia, and possibly even up along the Aleutians and down the West coast of the Americas. What we are certain about is that they reached Australia. There was never any way to get there except via multiple such crossings. Whether this happened via Sulawesi and Papua New Guinea, or via Bali, Lombok, and Timor, or both, nobody knows. But at the time Papua New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania were all one island we call Sahul, and most of the sea between Indonesian islands was rich river bottom land, going on a million square miles of it we now call Sundaland, connecting with Taiwan and what is now all beneath the South China and Yellow seas all the way to Korea. People lived there for tens of thousands of years before the sea began to rise 20,000 years ago, continuing until 8000 ya, 200m in all, with 80m between just 12,000 and 8000 ya. The oldest cave paintings we know of are in what were then the mountains of Sulawesi, hauntingly similar to what shows up all over Europe from Czech to Spain tens of millennia later. When the water rose, people had to move uphill to where other people were already living. Australian oral histories still record resolutions of conflicts over that event.

gerdesj 4y ago

The Middle of the World sea is mostly land locked. Close to land the winds run off shore (away from the shore) in the morning and then back to on shore (point towards the shore) in the afternoon. This is because in the morning the land is relatively cool and in the afternoon it is relatively warm. The thermal gradient above the land and sea then determines the wind direction. This pattern is mostly seen in the summer and less so in the other three seasons, when it gets a bit more random. Now it all gets a bit complicated depending on which bit of sea is being affected by which bit of land. On top of that the Med has weather systems just like everywhere else and they can get a bit feisty. Early in the (Christian) New Year you get the big old winds like the Ghibli and co dumping sand into your Brandy Sour. I lived in Cyprus for two years back in the 1980s and spent quite a lot of that time in and on the water.

gerdesj 4y ago
I have now actually read the article. It seems that no sailors were harmed in it. I really don't buy this article's premise. Even a vessel with run only sails can plot a course by working out which bit of land is affecting the patch of sea they are traversing. In the areas where land doesn't have a direct effect, you get to play the usual lottery with wind and weather. Even when the wind is against them, they should be able to manage slightly better than a "abeam close reach" so go slightly against the wind. "Modern mariners can tack against the wind by setting the sails at sharp angles. That wasn’t feasible 2,400 years ago because sails were fixed then." No they were not "fixed" at all - look at the picture of the replica - it is running close hauled. The sail is tied off fore and aft and not at right angles to travel. The article literally contradicts itself with photo evidence. If you look really closely at the modern yacht with a Bermuda rig - it's sails are luffing!