J.R. Johnson

If you, like me, have spent the past week wondering how a ship like the Ever Given could get stuck so well for so long, here’s a fun interactive for you:

Steer through the Suez Canal

Navigating the Suez Canal is a high-stress, complicated feat that requires master piloting skills. To demonstrate, we worked with Master Mariner Andy Winbow and Captain Yash Gupta to produce this simulated passage.

Try your hand at traversing one of the most highly trafficked nautical thoroughfares in the world.

Aaaaaand, yeah, that’s a collision. Even in a simplified simulation like this one, it’s like trying to drive a freight train on ice. 

And that’s today’s experiment with “walking in someone else’s shoes.” Or wheelhouse, as the case may be. I find this sort of thought experiment useful, both as a writer and as a human being.*

Here’s to all those who do hard things!

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* Which I 100% am, no matter what my QR code says.