UB Engineer’s Study Of Turbulence Takes Him To High Seas

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- As director of the Turbulence Research Lab at the University at Buffalo, Clarence resident William K. George, Jr., Ph.D., deals with mathematics and theory daily. But he also enjoys a change in latitude for a different kind of turbulent adventure: sailing.

While George, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, says UB "is one of the best places in the world to study turbulence," he sets out to sea for months at a time to survey the chaotic waters aboard "Wings," the 42-foot boat he has co-owned with a friend since 1993.

This summer, George spent three months sailing and teaching in other parts of the world. He and two of his students flew to Sweden, where they picked up "Wings" and sailed to Chalmers University in Gothenburg, where George taught for a month. The crew -- a constant variable -- then sailed to Denmark, Poland, Estonia and Finland.

George, who also heads the Center for Thermo/Fluids Engineering at UB, says he's wanted to sail since he was a child. The summer before he came to UB, 25 years ago, he got his chance.

The opportunity came while jogging in Boston along the Charles River.

"I literally ran into (a sign for) community boating," he says. He spent that summer taking sailing lessons, and when he came to UB, he immediately began his search for a boat.

He bought an Albacore, a 15-foot boat on which he learned to race in the 1970s. Soon after, George took a hiatus from his passion altogether, but picked up sailing and racing again in 1988 on his 25-footer "Jacuzzi."

But he yearned to sail more extensively.

"I always had a yen to do ocean sailing," George says. "I made a couple of short ocean voyages in "Hobo" (for which he traded Jacuzzi) and became reasonably familiar with what I was doing and what a real off-shore boat should do."

He continued his preparations with a voyage in June 1993.

"I went off on a 100-foot schooner to Bermuda, to get used to the ocean," he says.

And two years later, George embarked on his first transatlantic journey, sailing with his crew from Chesapeake Bay, Md., to Scotland.

But the trip was not without its harrowing moments.

The ship was caught in several storms -- narrowly missing Hurricane Barry -- and doused with waves roughly as tall as a five-story building, George says. The ship again managed to elude disaster when its two spinnakers -- used in place of headsails -- became tangled around the forestay. The ordeal caused considerable panic among crewmembers, since they were 1,000 miles from anything, he recalls. But the situation was rectified and the ship continued successfully to its destination.

George says the worst condition in which to sail isn't fierce weather, but a lack of wind. Without wind and in the midst of a swell, the ship rocks violently, George points out, causing the booms and sails to crash from side to side. Meanwhile, supplies -- including some 2,000 pounds of canned goods, as well as fuel and water -- are tossed about below deck.

"The crew generally gets tossed around a bit, too. Sort of like being on a really bad rollercoaster," he notes. "And, of course, some people can get quite seasick. It really is about as miserable as one can be."

But George embraces those chaotic times.

"There's always a sense you're responsible for your own destiny," he says.

Such as in the case of the spinnaker snafu, when worrying doesn't figure into the solution.

"You're totally dependent on yourself and the decisions you made before you left (port)," he says.

And as captain, you've got to be flexible.

"I try to listen to everybody's input," he says. "You prepare yourself, you prepare your boat, you prepare your crew." Once you've set sail, "it's too late to think."

George, who says he was inspired in part to sail the ocean by Joshua Slocum's book, "My Trip Alone Around the World," has turned what began as a diary he kept while crossing the Atlantic Ocean into a book of his own -- one he's yet to publish.

But for now, George and his crew are busy making preparations for a journey through the southern ocean.

"This is the sailor's equivalent of climbing (Mount) Everest," he says. With map in hand in his office, he seems overjoyed.

"The more time I spend in the ocean, the better it gets," he says. "Crossing the ocean -- nothing can beat that."