I’m most fascinated by the route map: it explains why he never set for on the continent. He took the long way. I suppose there was no reason to expect a great circle route but that so engrained that I couldnt picture him getting to the Caribbean without going down the east coast
Especially if you consider Columbus’ voyages together with Eric the Red, a great circle route just seems automatic
Put that together with safe flying rules where you don’t want to go too far from land, depending on your plane, so naturally follow the coast, then cross the ocean where it’s narrower and there are places to land. Why wouldn’t an old sailing ship also want to stay near land?
I’m most fascinated by the route map: it explains why he never set for on the continent. He took the long way. I suppose there was no reason to expect a great circle route but that so engrained that I couldnt picture him getting to the Caribbean without going down the east coast
Especially if you consider Columbus’ voyages together with Eric the Red, a great circle route just seems automatic
Put that together with safe flying rules where you don’t want to go too far from land, depending on your plane, so naturally follow the coast, then cross the ocean where it’s narrower and there are places to land. Why wouldn’t an old sailing ship also want to stay near land?