08/25/2025
Hi Cape Split Schoolhouse: Our next event is Thursday, September 11 at 6:00 PM. It is a lecture by experienced mariner Elliot Rappaport. If you have spent any time on the water, you'll enjoy this talk! Global Winds and the History of Exploration: A stone axe from Samoa is found in Hawaii. The remains of an 11th century Norse village are discovered next to a spruce bog in present-day Canada. Portuguese explorers ride the monsoons to India, guided by the ancient knowledge of African navigators—while in the 21st century. racing yachts circle the world in mere months, plying routes first run by Clipper Ships. In this talk, Captain Rappaport describes how solar energy and the momentum of earth's rotation drive a system of global winds— a marine highway that has carried human populations across the oceans for as far back as it's possible to measure.
About Elliot: Elliot has sailed as a captain in the US maritime industry since 1992, involved primarily in the training of other mariners aboard a variety of traditional sailing ships. Presently a faculty member at Maine Maritime Academy, preparing cadets for professional careers at sea, he has also worked extensively at the SEA Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, an organization that offers shipboard programs in ocean science and leadership to college undergraduates. A graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Maine, Elliot lives in Surry, Maine. His first book, Reading the Glass, a narrative work on seafaring and meteorology, was published in 2023.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/672096/reading-the-glass-by-elliot-rappaport/
