BURL BURLINGAME
Weird-looking contraptions called FORACS
help submarine personnel track their location.
Ever since the Navy vacated Barbers Point -- oops, Kalaeloa -- the beach has gone to pot. But if you spot these towers along the Leeward Coast, don't assume the Navy has gone into the lifeguard business. Kalaeloa towers let
subs track their locationAccording to Agnes Tauyan, Navy Region Hawaii Deputy Public Affairs Officer, the "towers belong to the Naval Underwater Warfare Center at Lualualei and are used as optical tracking towers for submarines."
They're called FORACS, or Fleet Operational Readiness Accuracy Check. FORAC is usually used to test helicopter and surface-ship sensor systems. Here, though, submarine sensors are calibrated in three dimensions, using the shoreside towers and some sea-bottom emitters as well. Tests are conducted at various keel depths, simulating operating conditions.
Tracking is accomplished through the use of differential GPS (global positioning system). Sensors tested include sonars, search radars, SINS/gyrocompasses, peloruses, gun and missile fire-control radar and optical systems, and electronic support and countermeasures (ESM/ECM) systems.
Got that? If not, just think about submarines using the towers to figure out just where the heck they are.
Burl Burlingame
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Red Hot chamber sounds
The Red-Hot Lava Chamber Music Festival 2001 continues at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow with "Trios and Tribulations," featuring the world premiere of "Na Iwi o Pele" (The Bones of Pele) by Donald Womack.The concert will be held at Atherton Performing Arts Studio.
Tickets are $15 general, $12.50 for members and $10, for students. Call 955-8821.
"Na Iwi O Pele" will also be featured in "An Evening of Contrasts" -- From Mozart to Bartok and Beyond, at 7:30 p.m. May 28 at the Honolulu Academy of Arts Theatre.
Tickets are $10 general and $8 for students and seniors.
Call 532-8700 for details.
Raku on the beach
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Raku Ho'olaule'a, a festival on the beach celebrating the art form.The original guest artists are coming back a little older and a lot wiser to show what they've learned over the years. Joe Hawley and David Kuraoka are the guest artists who will show their work on the beach.
A free public reception and slide lecture is scheduled to begin 5:30 p.m. May 29 at the Honolulu Academy of Art Theatre to prepare the uninitiated for the sight of potters in silver suits reaching with tongs into red-hot kilns to haul out glowing pots which are then plunged them into piles of wood shavings that burst into flame and smoke
Then comes the ho'olaule'a itself, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 2 at Kualoa Regional Park. Events are:
>> 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. -- The community kiln. Purchase a tea bowl or vase, glaze it, and then hand it to potters to work their firing ceremony. As raku is the art of the unpredictable, your pot will emerge from the smoke and steam bearing a combination of iridescent colors.Finish off by stopping by the lottery table and pick up a ticket to win an assortment of prizes including meals, flights and gift vouchers. The drawing will take place on Sunday.>>10 a.m. -- Pot throwing contest. Teams of master potters will flex their muscles in a contest to see who is fastest at pot-throwing.
>>10 a.m. to noon -- Hot glass blowing demonstrations by the Hot Glass Hui, showing how to treat glass like bubble gum.
>> 4 p.m. -- Floating sculpture contest. If you're not into aesthetics, try swimming along with the floating sculpture contest and see which piece of art survives longest with its "head" above water. The winner gets a prize made by last year's winner so expect wacky stuff on both sides of the judging process.
Bring a picnic lunch.
In addition, an exhibition of raku works created on the beach will run June 14 to 28 at the Arts at Marks Garage, corner of Pauahi Street and Nuuanu Avenue. The exhibit will be open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.
Fashionable campus
The Kamehameha Schools most fashionable alumni will stage "Backyard Bash 2001" on the upper campus Konia field from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. June 7.Featured will be garments from Nake'u Awai (class of '59);Bete Inc.'s Nola Nahulu ('71) and Linda Nahulu ('73); Ka Pa La Ahu's Wayne Piena ('71) and wife Iwa ('89); Manuheali'i's Danene and Pono Lunn ('79); and Puamana Crabbe ('74). Also featured will be designs from Tali's Polynesia.
Models will be provided by L.A. Image, under the direction of Luana Alapa-Hee ('83).
Tickets are $15 per person. Call Crabbe at 949-5150.
Surf's up ... for bid
Mark your calendar for the Hawaiian Islands Vintage Surf Auction July 21, being advertised as Hawaii's "largest auction of surf memorabilia, Hawaiiana and surf collectibles."The event will be held in the Blaisdell Center pikake room in conjunction with the Hawaii All-Collectors Show 2001.
Former pro surfer Randy Rarick is producing the Vintage Surf Auction. Some 40 years of traveling to compete and promote the surf industry have afforded Rarick the opportunity to acquire some of the best surf-related collectibles from peru, Australia and the mainland, all with a Hawaii theme.
Ten percent of sales from the surf collectibles will benefit the Hawaiian Lifeguard Association's Junior Guard program.
Call 638-7266 for information.
Turn on the charm
Are you spending too much time alone? If so, you may need a dose of magnetism. A workshop being conducted by Angelina Genie Joseph and George Sousa will teach you how to enhance your social skills, particularly when it comes to attracting members of the opposite sex. The topics: accurately read signals from the opposite sex; align your values to meet the right mate; send unmixed signals to a partner.The three-hour workshop begins at 6:30 p.m. May 30 at the Radisson Waikiki Prince Kuhio at 2500 Kuhio Ave. Admission is $10; validated parking is $3. RSVP at 926-0670.
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