Please select your home edition
Edition
Hyde Sails 2024 - One Design

Longest ocean voyage you could ever sail in a straight line

by Peter Dockrill 6 May 2018 10:30 UTC
Longest ocean voyage you could ever sail in a straight line © mihtiander / iStock / sciencealert.com

Staring out over the vastness of the ocean, it feels like the distant blue horizon goes on forever and ever. But it doesn't, and you can't.

If you were to set sail in a straight line from the shore – never turning once to steer your way around islands or continents – what's the furthest you could you go before making a voyage-ending, inevitable landfall?

We now have an answer to this sea-faring riddle, thanks to science.

In actual fact, we've held the answer in our hands for some time, although the source of the solution remained unconfirmed – not to mention a little bit mysterious.

In 2012, Reddit user kepleronlyknows posted a map on Reddit that he claimed was the longest straight line you could trace across Earth's oceans: a trek of almost 20,000 miles (32,186 km) in a straight line from Pakistan to the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia.

Read the full article here.

Related Articles

A rare lightning storm in Hurricane Dorian
Videos capture the event in the swirling vortex Hurricane Dorian has been unleashing an impressive lightning storm as it continues on its tragically destructive way. Posted on 4 Sep 2019 Herodotus wasn't lying about Egyptian boats
A sunken ship found in the Nile river A sunken ship found in the Nile river may have lain undisturbed for over 2,500 years, but now it is finally ponying up its secrets. Scientists think that this ship has revealed a structure whose existence has been debated for centuries. Posted on 19 Mar 2019 50 days adrift at sea in a floating wooden hut
Somehow an Indonesian teenager survived He had rations to last just one week. But somehow an Indonesian teenager who drifted out to sea in a floating wooden shack managed to survive 49 days before being rescued by a passing freighter. Posted on 26 Sep 2018 Scientists identified first known omnivorous shark
Sharks are some of the most notorious meat-eaters on the planet A new study reveals that the bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo), a relatively small shark found in coastal waters around the US, is a flexitarian - meaning it has the ability to switch between a meat- and plant-based diet. Posted on 7 Sep 2018 Fire in the hole
Fire in the hole The Arctic is not in a good way. Its oldest, thickest sea ice is breaking. Strange lakes punctuate its landscape. The very chemistry of its water is changing. Posted on 31 Aug 2018 Volcanic heat source discovered beneath Antarctic
Climate change is still worse The Pine Island Glacier is known to be the fastest-melting glacier in Antarctica, responsible for around a quarter of the continent's ice loss. Posted on 7 Jul 2018 Antarctica rumbled by hidden earthquakes
The great calm is over It was an unprecedented blip out of nowhere in 1982. For the first time, scientists confirmed the first earthquake in Antarctica – but it wouldn't be the last. Posted on 6 Jun 2018 Arabian Sea's "Dead Zone" is bigger than Florida
The largest and thickest in the world The Gulf of Oman plays host to the largest and thickest "dead zone" in the world, but scientists have struggled to study it intensively due to piracy and geopolitical tensions in the region. Posted on 2 Jun 2018 Japanese Whalers killed 333 Minke Whales this year
Japanese whalers killed 333 Minke Whales this year, 122 of them were pregnant Every Christmas, sailors from Japan go out into the Southern Ocean, taking "biological sampling" that aims to investigate "the structure and dynamics of the Antarctic marine ecosystem". Posted on 2 Jun 2018 The Great Barrier Reef escapes death before
Is it more resilient than we think? For the last 30,000 years the Great Barrier Reef has experienced all kinds of sea level rises, temperature changes, and sediment increases. Posted on 30 May 2018
Henri-Lloyd Dynamic RangePantaenius 2022 - SAIL & POWER 2 FOOTER ROWStoneways Marine 2021 - FOOTER
This site and its contents are Copyright © 2025 Sail-World Cruising Northern Hemisphere and/or the original author, photographer etc. All Rights Reserved. Photographs are copyright by law. If you wish to use or buy a photograph contact the photographer directly.
If you have any questions about advertising or editorial then please contact our team. If you encounter any technical issues then please email techsupport@sail-world.com
Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy