Mirage: Our Lying Eyes!
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By George Papabeis, Flotilla 74 Brandon
“I
see them!” We all did- all three crew and the coxswain of the Coast Guard Auxiliary vessel “Lady E.” We had back-tracked to where we lost sight of the dolphins protec ng the infrastructure of the Skyway bridge in Tampa Bay, Florida. No one voiced it, but something was off. We could see the dolphins but... Earlier in the day of July 14, 2018, we measured the height of the dolphins at twelve feet from the surface of the water using a smartphone app that had
been calibrated dockside from midship using a yards ck. Gene Keller, the coxswain, plo ed a course at a 90 degree angle away from the bridge at a compass bearing of 60 degrees. Crew members included George Papabeis and Jeff Gines both from Flo lla 74 Brandon, and Stanley Clark. We then watched to see when the dolphins disappeared over the horizon. Why were we doing this? To measure the curvature of the earth. We logged our course as follows: 1) 12:55 (hours) 27.37.36 N, 082.39.49 W Measured Dolphin with cam measure iPhone app 12 feet to top of wood bumpers. Proceeded at 20 knots to a compass bearing of 60 degrees. Big Bend power plant smokestacks used as visual for reference. 2) 13:08 (hours) 27.38.86 N, 082.37.15 W, 2.56 NM
The Skyway Bridge dolphin that we measured. Note the concrete cap. BREEZE
Issue 1 2019
Stopped vessel and took a reference photo with dolphins s ll (Con nued on page 13)
Newsletter for District 7 USCG Auxiliary
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