Do Dolphins Ever Sleep?

“There you are, about to go ashore, your dinghy has just nudged the wall of the pier. Full of confidence, you stand up and lean forward to slip the line through the iron ring or simply try to step out and voilà, the dinghy slips away under you. This disconcerting little trick it plays is due to what physicists call ‘the conservation of linear momentum’.”

So begins the answer to the question: Why does a dinghy slide backward as we try to climb out?

Why are cold seas green and warm seas blue? Why do barnacles attach themselves to boat hulls? When was the rudder invented? What have been the main steps in the evolution of sailboats?  How does wind create waves?

These are some of the questions asked about the sea, the sky, wind and weather, ships, sailing, navigation and life aboard. Do dolphins ever sleep? 211 questions and answers about ships, the sky and the sea, offers clear and precise answers to some of the questions you probably wondered or perhaps did not think about.

Chock full of highly interesting questions, some with the most astonishing answers.

· Author is a respected scientist as well as a passionate sailor.

About the Author:

Pierre-Yves Bely is an engineer who worked with NASA and the Paris Observatory. He is a passionate cruiser and during his many crossings of the Atlantic and the Pacific he asked himself all those questions and gives us the answers found after comprehensive research. Sally Bely, his wife, translated and adapted the book. She taught French at the college level, has done translations of scientific and technical texts, and has a special interest in marine biology and sailing.