David's World

October 21, 2006

20 knots gusty and a sail too wide

20 knots (gusty) is a mouthful when you're learning to windsurf. And my sail was way too big. These are some of the things learned this week on a short "work trip" sponsored by my department. On the shore of Loch Tay in the Scottish Highlands, we've tried to find out more about the research that people across the 500-person school are doing, and we've tried to meet unusual challenges that had to do with water and mud. It was great fun and very motivating.

I observe that our brains seem to love the stimulation from learning new things - the Heureka experience when the sail catches wind and your board picks up speed.
Apart from the wind, I noted that a) scientists are in great danger of drifting off into geekery when they're supposed to explain their work to people from different (even bordering) fields, and b) that a 10-minute short presentation rule demands strict enforcement. Neither observation came as a surprise.




(More pictures in my BigTrip log.)