Wave Studies: Sailing an Ocean with Max and Marjorie Mathews

Abstract

Max Mathews has been an important presence in my life since 1964 when I first met him at Bell Telephone Laboratories. His guidance and help in launching the Music IV program at Stanford (Chafe and Chowning 2007; see also the program notes accompanying the 2008 Computer Music Journal DVD) and with my first research efforts in simulating moving sound sources and Doppler shift (Chowning 1971) were invaluable to me. But he has also been a close friend, and in this article I present an aspect of Max that has nothing to do with computer music. Rather, I bring to light one of Max Mathews's secondary passions sailing, an activity in which he has teamed with Marjorie for decades and in which, with my family, we joined together to make an extended ocean voyage. Sailing a boat is a complicated business, requiring specialized skills and technical knowledge. Sailing a boat over long distances is complicated further by the fact that, in addition to keeping the boat in operating condition (and afloat!), survival depends upon knowing one's location the art of navigation. It is celestial navigation especially that fascinates Max it is an art that embraces a range of considerations, from trigonometry to astronomy, and which requires a kind of attention to detail and methodical habits of work that have led Max to such