Aug 07 2009

Navy Pier activity tracking with the EZ-1000 (How fast does the Seadog go?)

I took my 2 boys to Navy Pier while traveling to Chicago last week.

We went on the Seadog “Extreme” which is a fast powerboat ride on Lake Michigan. I had an EZ-1000 on me so I was able to see how fast we were going from my cell phone on the boat. Here is a Google Earth 3D Map of that activity

Tracking the Seadog on Navy Pier

40 MPH is about as fast as it got according to the EZ-1000.

Here is a pic of the Seadog Extreme from my iPhone:

Tracking the Seadog on Navy Pier

And my boys enjoying the fast ride:

Tracking the Seadog on Navy Pier

This was Friday, so one of our developers noticed I was out on the lake & texted to see what I was doing. Then he saw I was waiting in line for the ferris wheel & he bumped my refresh rate to 15 seconds so he could see the altitude rise and fall while we were on the ride. We don’t show that data (too much information…) so I had to trust him when he said it worked. Then I asked him to drop the refresh rate to 2 seconds for the swing chairs. It got a good set of points & they all agree the speed for that ride was between 14-19 MPH:

Tracking the Navy Pier swings

The swings at Navy Pier:

Tracking Swings at Navy Pier

And each of my boys again:

This is Ryan:

Rob’s kids on Navy Pier Swings

This is Jack:

Rob’s kids on Navy Pier Swings

Fun time for the kids (and Rob).

Incidentally, I was curious how long of a trip they take you on with the Seadog, and using Google Earth & the Measurement Tool, it’s simple to see that it’s about 10.5 miles after they get past the breakwater:

How far does the Seadog go?

Thanks,

Rob.