Monday, May 28, 2007

Junk

A junk is a Chinese marine vessel. The English name comes from Malay dugong or jong. Junks were initially developed during the Han Dynasty (220 BC-200 AD) and further evolved to symbolize one of the most successful ship types in history.
The organization and flexibility of junk sails make the junk easy to sail, and fast. Unlike a conventional square rigged ship the sails of a junk can be moved inward, toward the long axis of the ship, allow the junk to sail into the wind.
The sails include more than a few horizontal members ("battens") which provide shape and strength. -The sails can also be easily reefed and familiar for fullness, to accommodate various wind strengths. The battens also make the sails more resistant than traditional sails to large tears, as a tear is naturally limited to a single "panel" between battens. Junk sails have much in common with the most aerodynamically well-organized sails used today in windsurfers or catamarans, although their design can be traced back as early the 3rd century AD.
The standing chains are simple or absent. The sail-plan is also extending out between multiple masts, allowing for a powerful sail surface, and a good repartition of efforts, an innovation adopted in the West around 1304. [Citation needed] The rig allows for good marine into the wind.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Kerala houseboats

The houseboats in Kerala, south India, are huge, slow-moving, foreign barges used for leisure trips. They are a reworked model of Kettuvallams (in the Malayalam language, Kettu means "tied with ropes", and vallam means "boat"), which, in earlier times, were used to carry rice and spices from Kuttanad to the Kochi port. Kerala houseboats were measured a suitable means of transportation.
The fame of Kettuvalloms has returned in the function as major tourist attractions. Many come across the Kettuvallom an ideal means of explore the beauty of the Kerala backwaters.
Such a houseboat is about 60 to 70 feet (about 18 to 21 meters) long and concerning 15 feet (about 5 meters) wide at the middle. The hull is made of wooden planks that are detained together by ropes of coconut fiber; the usual wood is 'Anjili'. The roof is completed with bamboo poles and palm leaves. The exterior of the boat is tinted with protective coats of cashew nut oil.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Cigarette boat

The cigarette boat or go-fast boat is a high performance boat of a feature design. Originally designed for his offshore racing team by Donald Aronow, the fast, powerful boats became infamous as the drug smuggling boat of choice in many parts of the world in the 1990s and first years of the 21st century.
In harmony with their pure racing heritage, the accommodations on these boats are minimal, and they are built to hold 5 or more passengers. While most do have some cabin under the foredeck, it is low and much smaller than a characteristic motor yacht of similar size. Apart from the racing market, most buyers of these boats purchase them for the mystique; the mixture of the racing and smuggling connections, plus the immense power and high top speeds make these boats popular as ostentatious displays of wealth.
These boats are hard to detect by radar except on flat calm seas or at close range. The United States Coast Guard and the DEA establish them to be stealthy, fast, seaworthy, and very complicated to intercept using conventional craft. Because of this, Coast Guards contain developed their own high-speed craft and also use helicopters. The helicopters are prepared with Anti-materiel rifles which can be used to disable the motors of the go-fast boat. The Coast Guard go-fast boat is a rigid hulled inflatable boat RHIB ready with radar and powerful engines. The RHIB is armed with quite a few types of non-lethal weapons and M240 GPMG.