Years and years ago, before Bitnet and Usenet had evolved into the internet we now know, there was a legend of a man. A man with a lot of cutting edge communication and networking technology…on a bicycle. A “computerized recumbent bicycle”, essentially.
This is not the story of that man.
Still, we followed Steve Roberts’ inspiring and unlikely journeys with great interest. It was amazing. I distinctly remember being utterly blown away when he described his theft prevention system aboard BEHEMOTH (Big Electronic Human-Energized Machine… Only Too Heavy), which included a GPS connected to a computer that would call 911 using the cellular network and transmit automated “I’m a bicycle, I’ve been stolen, I’m currently at [lat/long]” messages. Wow! You have to remember that in 1990, this was really something. And on a bicycle, to boot!
Then, in the early 1990s, Steve decided to outfit a boat. A trimaran. Human-powered. With sails, too. And a whole bunch o’ computers ‘n stuff, naturally. And he built the boat. And Steve looked upon the boat and saw that it was good.
But it wasn’t good enough! So he’s spent years developing and refining his vision of the ideal “MicroShip”. And today it is very, very good.
Now, it seems, Steve wants to venture further afield. The open ocean beckons. Bluewater! Exotic ports-of-call! So he’s working on a new microship. Only this time it ain’t so micro; it’s a 44-foot steel-hulled pilothouse cutter!
We’re a “gear and gadgets” blog, but if you really want to explore the absolute bleeding edge of gadgety boating, head over to Steve’s Nomadic Research Labs site.
Navagear wishes to express our heartfelt gratitude for Steve Roberts’ many contributions to the world of geeky transportation, and we will follow his progress on this ambitious new project with great interest. Steve Roberts, we salute you!
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All hail a prince of nautical geekitude. Here’s a bit more color:
http://tinyurl.com/2ohn3s
Wow, I’m speechless and practically blushing over here… thanks for the kind words (just the motivation I needed to extract myself from this computer and make some progress today).
The boat moves to my winter moorage this weekend; I have 6 months to get the dockside geekery done enough to go on the hook for a season of Pacific Northwest exploration before heading out the Strait in September ’08 and turning left. Deadlines are a good antidote to mission creep.
Cheers and thank you again!
Steve
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