"The Book of the Sun" Chapter 5- The big race: elephant vs. cheetah

IN 1885, the fully loaded cargo ship, Cutty Sark, sailed from London to Sydney in 77 days.
Google Earth shows the distance to be approximately 15,000 miles. In 2018, the Russian-Orthodox Christian priest and the adventure-extraordinaire Fedor Konyukhov circumnavigated Antarctica sailing solo on Alye Parusa, an 85ft maxi-yacht, in 102 days, a reported distance – corroborated by Google Earth – of around 16.000 miles. The fact Fedor did this solo, instead of a crew of 10, normal for such a maxi-yacht, is claimed by some as an excuse when comparing his incredibly slow speed to that of the Cutty Sark, which was manned by a crew of 20. The objectionable apparent slowness of Fedor´s yacht is tentatively excused by claiming that he must have slept, so he probably slowed down to do so. However, his race was non-stop, so dropping anchor and stopping to have a lovely sleep was not an option as this would have disqualified him, but still, he must have slowed down to sleep, surely (beg the incredulous)…

So goes the oft claimed excuse for outstandingly slow speed. This ´must have slept´- which obviously implies ´at something like regular intervals´ like normal people – contradicts what Fedor himself said to reporters immediately after finishing , which was that he had not slept for weeks, but never mind that...As often happens with the incredulous more mental energy is dedicated to shoring-up esxcuses that pondering what the reality of those excuses, were they to be true, would entail – which in this case would mean it being almost impossible to remain awake, much less focused, during 102 days of mind-numbingly slow tedium at sea. Regardless of this, the incredulous still proclaim that Fedor`s slowness is owed to him sailing solo, so the comparison with the 20-man crewed Cutty Sark is invalid.

A valid comparison of speeds between 1800´s cargo ship and modern racing yacht would have to be something like the Cutty Sark versus a crewed racing yacht, not a solo voyage – say the increulous. Ok,so let`s do that then. Let´s compare the Cutty Sark`s sailing speeds with this: in April 2018, the Polish-crewed Katharsis II, a 72-foot Oyster yacht manned by a crew of 9, normal for such a yacht, circumnavigated Antarctica in a loop that started in Cape Town, heading East (like Fedor) and on south of the 60th parallel (unlike Fedor, who had to remain above the 60`th parallel), a latitude south of which Katharsis II remained until it went all the way around Antarctica and on to finish at Hobart, Tasmania, in just 1 hour short of 103days. Google Earth says that`s 17,000miles. The Katharsis II did not slow down for the crew to have a lovely sleep.

According to the spherical earth figures, the average speeds were:

Vessel	Miles	Days	Speed
Cutty Sark	15,000	77	8.1 mph/7 kn
Alye Parusa	16,000	102	6.5 mph/5.6 kn
Katharsis II	17,000	103	6.8 mph/5.9 kn

Fastest: Cutty Sark


However…

The Cutty Sark then on form Sydney to London in 73 days, a distance on Google Earth of 16,000 miles – same as Fedor`s Antarctic race and only 1000miles less than the Katharsis II, having made it from Sydney round Cape Horn in 23 days, a distance on a spherical Earth (according to Google Earth) of 7,500 miles, making the Cutty Sark`s average speeds:

Journey	Miles	Days	Speed
Sydney-London	16,000	73	9.1 mph/7,9 kn
Sydney- Cape Horn	7,500	23	13.58 mph/11.2 kn

If we take some of the Cutty Sark`s 150-day round trip of 31,000miles ( according to spherical Earth distances) from London to Sydney and back to London, the the average speed is 8.6 mph/7.4 knots. It`s not that impressive. In fact, it seems ludicrously slow even for a cargo ship. However, if we then take the Cutty Sark`s highest average speed – in The Roaring 40`s (that`s beyond 40° south latitude, where the winds are consistent severe gales between New Zeeland and Cape Horn), then from Sydney to Cape Horn the speed was 13.58 mph/11.2 knots. Averaging that out over the courses taken by Fredor`s Ayle Perusa (16,000mi) and Katharsis II (17,000mi), then the Cutty Sark could have completed Fedor`s race in 51 days and Katharsis II in 54 days – FULLY LOADED! In every case the Curty Sark beats the modern racing yachts – and doesn`t just beat them but taking its highest average speed – which is only fair given that racing yachts traveled in gale winds for the entirety of their voyages – it beats them by some 50 days. That´s almost twice as fast.

Vessel	Miles	Speed	Days
Cutty Sark	31,000	8.6 mph/7.4kn	150
Alye Parusa	31,000	6.5 mph/5.6 kn	197
Katharsis II	31,000	6.8 mph/5.9 kn	187

That´s a problem for the spherical earth and its supposed distances. But now let´s do the opposite, let´s see how long it would take Fedor´s Alye Parusa and the crewed Katharsis II to sail the 31,00-mile round trip that the Cutty Sark (filled with cargo), sailed in 150days: Even cynics will have to admit that there´s something not quite right here.. and they´ll be Right: the racing yachts sailed in higher winds for entirety of their races, while the Cutty Saark sailed in those high winds for less than a quarter of his route. And yet, fully loaded, it was still faster?

Logically, the globe-believer absolutely must justify this, either claiming that the weight of the loaded Cutty Sark allowed it to plough trough waves, which would slow the smaller racing yacht – as if those racing yachts had to sail up and down every wave like a cartoon, which is not the case because racing yachts are specifically designed to avoid being thusly affected by the type of waves a cargo ship might plough trough – or, its sail-spread propelled it much faster because it caught more wind, which is partly true. It certainly did catch more wind, but that extra wind becomes extra torque invested in propelling the 963 tons of bulkier mass, with the drag that goes with it, while the racing yachts are far lighter. They typically weigh less than 10 tons and are designed with a pronounced keel that allows them to cut through and skim over waves, thus traveling much faster, skimming over waves rather than traveling up and down – or ploughing trough them.

Remember, according to the globe earth distances the Cutty Sark was faster on routes really taken, not just in the hypothetical comparisons, and its routes were only partly in those same high-wind regions that make the entirety of the racing yacht´s routes...Moreover, these are all based on the distances described by Google Earth. Measuring those same routes on physically globes makes the Cutty Sark´s journeys longer still, and hence faster, while making the Antarctica racer´s journey shorter, and hence slower. This only further compounds the problem for those who believe they live on a spherical earth by making the Cutty Sark even faster still than the already faster pace resulting from Google Earth´s distances.

There is also this: other crewed monohull racing yachts sail in those same regions as Fedor and the Katharsis II´s journeys, and they reach speeds exceeding 55knots/50mph – and luckily, also make videos about this and make those videos public. Of course, this does not mean that they travel at that same speed all the time, but neither does it mean that they do not travel at those speeds for extended periods. We have no way of knowing from the videos. It might turn out that they travel faster still at other points. One thing it does show, however, is that traveling at those speeds in stormy conditions in those regions an those types of monohull yachts is indeed possible – and all of it without having to go up and down every wave. And the problem of sailing speeds for the globe earth´t end there. In fact, it gets much worse. You see, Google Earth, the distance between Sydney and Cape Horn along Roaring 40´s is 7500 miles. The Cutty Sark´s fastest ever leg was on this route, and the globe distance says it did an average of 13.58mph – which, apart from being quite slower than its actual ´recorded´fastest ever speed of 17 knots (19.5mph), leaves 50 days for the rest of the journey from Cape Horn to London, which on the globe is 8,500 miles. This means an average speed of approximately 7mph, which is a little less then half the speed logged by its Captain for that stretch.

In the much calmer conditions past Cape Horn, checking their speed with the chip log (the traditional way of establishing knots at sea), would have been a breeze, making it unlikely for the Captain to have just hazzarded a guess for his log. But where exactly did the Cutty Sark make its fastest ever speed of óver´17 knots if it not were the fastest winds were during its record-breaking journey? And did that leg of the record-breaking journey average an overall speed of 13.58mph? (17 knots = 19.56mph.)? Could be. Details about where the óver 17 knots´was recorded are sketchy. It´s according to the Royal Museum, Greenwich, that the Cutty Sark´s top speed was over 17knots/19.56mph, and we must bear in mind that not every organization signs from the same song-sheet when it comes to deceit, some are more resistant that others; just because some organizations intentionally lie about the shape of the earth and distances between places doesn´t mean that all organizations lie likewise. Indeed, sometimes lies told by one organization are exposed by lies told by another, like when one contradicts the other.

On balance of probability the +17 knot speed was most likely arrived as as an average of the leg from Sydney to Cape Horn covered in the record breaking 23 days, a true distance of 13,300miles (as shown in our map), making a 23.5mph average – indeed ´more than 17 knots´. And all that would be needed for the speed to have been considered merely ´more than 17 knots´ would be for the official distance for that leg to be thought some 10,800 miles. In the remaining 50 days Cutty Sark covered 15,100 miles (as shown in our map) at an average of 12.58mph- which happens to confirm the speed logged by the Captain, who wrote that on the last leg they covered ´more than 300 miles a day.´The whole return journey from Sydney to London averaged out according to the real distances (shown in our map) of 28,400miles over 73 days = 16.2mph or 14 knots average.

In the conditions and wind speeds of the roaring 40´s the crew of the Cutty Sark was most likely much too busy to throw the chip log overboard to count the knots to establish the rate fastest. But its record speed coming from elsewhere other than at speedy 23-day journey – despite this being also logged as when it traveled at its fastest – incongruous, and this helps to show that the official distance traveled on that leg is, at the very least,questionable. But lets look at our map and see what the average speeds would be for those journeys and see if we can´t make some sense of it all. The distances according to our map can be checked using they key, and it shows approximately 61,000miles for Fedor´s Ayle Parusa and 82,000 miles for the Polis crewed Katharsis II:

Journey	Miles	Days	Speed
Alye Parusa	61,000	102	24.9 mph
Katharsis II	81,000	103	33.17 mph

Compare that with Cutty Sark´s journey:

Journey	Miles	Days	Speed
London-Sydney-London	58,400	150	16.22 mph
London-Sydney	30,000	77	16.23 mph
Sydney-London	28,400	73	16.2 mph
Sydney-Cape Horn	13,300	23	23.5 mph
Cape Horn-London	15,100	50	12.58 mph

The speed of that last leg, from Cape Horn to London, was approximately 302 miles-a-day average on our map, which, as I mentioned earlier, is confirmed by the Captain´s log, where he wrote:

´more than 300miles per day´. But the globe says this distance is 8,500miles, which traveled over 50 days average 7.08mph – totally contradicting the Captain´s log as 7.08 mph x 24 hours = 169 miles a day – and that´s certainly not ´more than 300 miles per day.´

Again: “According to the Royal Museum in Greenwich the Cutty Sark´s top speed was over 17 knots/19.56mph.” Over 17 knots indeed… it was 23.5mph, which is just over 19.56 knots (mnotice the peculiar coincidence of 19,56mph vs 19.56knots). Over all, the distances as shown in our map are at least reasonable and at least in part confirmed by the Cutty Sark´s Captain´s own log. On the other hand, the globe distances contradict both common sense and the Captain´s log,what with the record-breaking speeds of all three vessels being mot just improbably slow, but in fact impossibly so, ranging from averaging less than 7mph in consistently high winds, to averaging some 7mph while simultaneously doing ´more than 300 miles per day.´The lie is found in the incongruous. Altogether it´s clear to see that the distances separating the southern continents are, in reality just as shown in our map; much grater than those of globe earth. And our distances are not just feasible but also corroborated by history.

Notwithstanding, the incredulous globe believers will cite all manner of excuses, no matter how illogical or unlikely, in order to not accept the facts stated. For instance, they will claim that sailing at less than 7mph in very high winds is not unreasonable – despite these being speed races, not slowness races. And when faced with mathematically impossibilities, like traveling with more than 300 miles a day while doing 169 miles a day, they will claim that the Captain must have got it wrong. This is simply because they cannot accept reality, especially when that reality shows that their beliefs are false. Their struggle is similar to that suffered by people convinced that someone committed a crime when faced with irrefutable evidence that supposed criminal is actually incorrect. Even evidence like CCTV footage of the ´criminal´ leaving their apartment building at a time that places them elsewhere during the crime will be dismissed by these types of incredulous people, who, rather than accept they were mistaken, will insist that the footage must be of a doppelganger. Even continuous footage from the apartment building on the day of the crime, through the intervening days all the ways to the alleged criminal´s court appearance wouldn't convince such people. They say there´s one born every minute…

The fact that an 1800´s sail-powered cargo ship, although having much higher torque, thanks to the bigger sail spread, would still be slower than a modern sail-powered racing yacht. Just like a cargo train, despite also having higher torque, has a slower top speed than a Formula 1 racing car. To believe that an 1800´s cargo ship would outrun a modern racing yacht is like believing that the top speed of an elephant is higher than that of cheetah. No, an elephant is slower than cheetah, despite having more pull, just like the cargo train is slower than the racing car. In case that´s not sufficiently clear: according to the globe distances and its reported sailing-speeds, a running elephant – now compared to a racing yacht rather than a cheetah – is almost twice as fast as the record-breaking Antarctic racers. That´s right, at least according to the globe distances. And, as chance would have it, the people who believe this are the same kind of people who are incredulous when it comes to things that they can see with their own eyes – like a non-driftig gyroscope, free to retain rigidity while the 24-hour mechanism on which it stands rotates at 15° per hour…

Checking and comparing such voyages (there are others that also disprove the globe distances) helps the logically minded to discern how to determine the true layout of the landmasses on earth, a layout which, as mentioned earlier, is defined by the sizes of oceans between them. The impossibly-slow sailing speeds of racing yachts confirm that the southern ocean´s true sizes are not those depicted on globes, including Google Earth.

Once having resolved the paradoxical globe sailing speeds, confirming whether one is working with the correct ocean sizes, and what causes the shift in illumination between June and December solstice periods. Without at least approximately correct ocean sizes one cannot perceive and hence delineate the illumination effect clearly to determine whether those landmasses are in fact well-placed. The next step was to study the shape of the day, and for this a clear-minded study of the sun was necessary.



[Edit:26/5/19]: and we must bear in mind that was the fastest 'recorded speed' which means speed officially recorded from the chip log. When travelling at even faster speeds the crew would have been too frantic to record the speed, with the captain focused on the sails and rudder. But what I have in the book as 13.300miles Sydney - Cape Horn is wrong, (I think) it's approx 15,000miles on the new map (not the one in the book), which makes her speed 27mph. only 7mph more than the official recorded speed. The other alternative (taking her speed to be 20mph) would place Sydney at 9,660miles from Cape Horn, which makes the journey from London to Sydney approx 34,000miles, making that journey over 77 days 18.39 mph, which I'd say is pretty unlikely given that the winds on that journey are mostly cross winds and nowhere near as high as the stretch from Sydney to Cape horn. Doing only 1.61 mph less in those much slower cross winds conditions compared to the conditions of the roaring forties is, well, very unlikely.



From the book "The Book of the Sun" by Antonio Subirats.

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Hier, ab Minute 18, wird das ganze nochmal visuell, auf Google Earth, nachvollziehbar dargestellt.