User:Vincecate/Migration

Imagine each seastead uses a kite and sea anchor to move in a big circle around the Sargasso Sea once each year. The currents are almost fast enough to do this, so even a slow seastead can probably make it. I am thinking Anguilla, Bermuda, Azores, back to Anguilla. We could time it so that we were in the North-Eastern half of this loop to avoid the hurricane season in the South-West and then in the South-Western half of the loop to avoid the cold stormy season in the North-Atlantic. With computers controlling the kites and sea anchors I think we can move at the right speed to make this happen. I think if we checked historical information that doing this you would never have had to face even a 30 foot wave in the last 100+ years. Designing/building for 30 foot waves is much easier than designing/building for 100 foot waves, so this type of migration could make the seasteads much more affordable.

On the edge of this Gyre there is dependable wind. In the middle it can be calm.

Speed

If the radius of our migration path was 800 miles, and it were circular, the circumference would be 2*800*3.141592=5027 miles. Over 365 days that is 13.77 miles/day, or about 0.57 MPH. The surface currents are a bit less than this. I think down where a spar or sea anchor would be the currents on this route are slower even than the surface currents but further checking is needed. In any case, movement relative to the current could be very slow (maybe 0.3 MPH, which is good if you are trying to move an upright spar).

Climate and power usage

This type of migration keeps the seastead in a comfortable climate all year. Heating or air-conditioning may not even be necessary. In any case, it reduces the power requirements for heating/cooling which can be substantial in some climates.

Dodging bad weather

If you have the ability to move, even slow movement can be enough to get out of the middle of a hurricane's path, even if you start there. These days you can get more than 4 days warning for a hurricane. If you can move 2+ MPH then in 4 days you can move over 200 miles. This should be enough to reduce the maximum wave experienced to less than 30 feet. If you are on a route that should not have hurricanes or storms, and have the ability to adjust the route some based on the weather forecast, and can handle 30 foot waves, you should be safe.

Some seastead designs may need to count on mobility and some may not have it or need it.

Access to land

This migration path would also mean that at 3 times during the year shopping or taking on cargo would be easy. This route passes near the Caribbean, Bermuda, and the Azores. Depending on the type of seastead it pull right into a harbor or just slowly pass the islands and use a boat to go to/from land.

This makes it easier to meet with landlubbers too. You could meet them on the island or they could visit the seastead. Tourists could visit for a couple months from the Caribbean to Bermuda or around 5 months on the other legs.

Evaluating route safety

I have checked the potential route in the graphic at the top against my "Pilot Charts" for the North Atlantic.

First, the route seems safe from hurricanes.

My charts also have contour lines for the chances of waves over 12 feet. The lowest probablility contour is either 5% or 10% and the places/times on my route are always less than the lowest contour line.

My charts also have chances of a gale. Where I have June is right between 0% and 1% chance of a gale during the month (should have made it just a bit lower). The rest of the time the chance of a gale is listed as 0% (they note that 0% means closer to 0 than 1% but maybe not really 0). By "gale" my charts mean at least force 8 on the Beaufort scale which might be just 18 foot seas:

So it looks like we could make a route with a 1% chance (or maybe less) of an 18 foot sea once during during the year.

It is at force 9 that waves start breaking in the open ocean, which can be particularly hard on structures

So I think the odds are you could go 100 years on a route like this and never see waves over 30 feet or breaking waves. But would be nice to get more information. I doubt I have the most optimal route already but it gets the idea across.

Forum discussion

There is a bit more on this in a thread on the forum.