Steve Sloan wrote: > >> What is a sled? What is the max crew of a sled? > >Have you ever seen those small vehicles that scuba divers >use, that just pull the diver along? > Maybe. But I saw lots of things in the TV, so I am not sure what you are talking about :-)
> I get the impression > that that's basically what a sled is: a one-man, or one-fin, > vehicle, which is not enclosed, and basically pulls the user > along faster than he can swim. They may be able to pull more > crew, particularly in emergencies, but they're primarily > designed for one person. They have additional gadgetry > attached, including air domes, arms for the fins, etc. My > vision of Startide sleds came largely from the "Streaker Crew" > illustration by David Cherry. That picture is what I based my > own sled design on: > > http://www.sloan3d.com/chmeee/uplift.html > Ok - but maybe this sled would be too simple, and Streaker would have at least one sled per crewmember. It seems that many missions in Kithrup were carried by unsledded dolphins. How many sleds would there be? At least some of them survived through _Infinity's shore_. >> What is the max speed (in decent units!) of a sled? > >If I had to guess, I'd look up the typical speed of a current >diver-pulling vehicle, and double it. Then again, I got the >impression that the sleds in the big "orca" chase scene were >moving awfully quickly, so maybe they are significantly faster >than that. > OTOH, I guess most dislocations from Streaker's landing site to Toshio's Island and the Thennanin Wreck site were done by swimming dolphins, so we have travel times of the order of 20 Earth Hours [or 1/2 Kithrup Day] Alberto Monteiro _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
