From Sail World
Did you know that it’s possible to sail all the way around the world to Antarctica - in a straight line (that's if you could) without ever touching land?
Well, we don't think anyone's actually done it, but here's the challenge:
Redditor Groke used Google Earth to show that it's possible - well, barely possible, as the oceanic route brushes past several islands along the way.
There’s also the pesky polar ice cap to deal with, so we’ll have to wait for global warming to take its toll before actually attempting to sail this stretch.
The route begins near the westernmost point of Norway :
It proceeds through the Greenland Sea between Greenland to the west and Norway’s Svalbard Islands to the east…
After crossing the polar ice cap, the course then passes through the Bering Strait, just missing Alaska’s Seward Peninsula to the east and then skirting west of Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island…
As the course passes through Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, it runs barely east of Kagamil Island and then Chuginadak Island…
The closest call on this course’s entire route is in Samoa, where it passes between two tiny Samoan islands, east of the island of Apolima and west of the island of Manono…
There are no islands blocking the way between Samoa and Antarctica.
From Samoa, it’s smooth sailing to Antarctica.
Here’s the full route once again for reference…
Actually, after Samoa the line is not straight
as it's impossible to make a line go further than half way around the globe in Google Earth.
see kmz file for testing
Links :
- GeoGarage blog : The longest straight line you can sail on Earth ?
- YouTube : Longest straight routes on water from Pakistan to Kamchatka (picture / Great Circle)
- Wikipedia : Extreme points of Earth (along any great circle)
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