From the Editors 



Lifelong Learning 



Summer closes quietly in late September. In its place arrive 

 autumn and a return to responsibility. Cooler, shorter days 

 correspond with a return to class for kids and young adults, the end 

 of leisurely days and escapes to the beach. We all seem to head 

 back to business. 



These changes in season and sentiment have us thinking about 

 education and Sea Grant's role in teaching people of all ages about 

 marine and coastal issues. Many of us associate books and tests 

 with education, but maybe we should widen our vision of learning 

 and its place in our lives. 



Perhaps we should engage in learning year-round and life- 

 long. 



The Sea Grant Extension Program reaches out to people of 

 varied backgrounds to help them learn something that enriches their 

 work or their lives. In that way, the agents and specialists are hands- 

 on educators. They ask questions and seek out the best ways to 

 communicate new information about the coast, coastal living and 

 coastal livelihoods. 



Years of work in the field and careful research support this 

 information. 



And what is research but the most basic type of education? 

 Asking a question and finding an answer — that's what science is 

 about. Researchers can invest years and careers in their education 

 on a single issue. The search for an answer to one question invites 

 another question and so on until a partem of findings emerges. For 

 examples of how this works, see Debbi Sykes Braswell's story on 

 how long-term Sea Grant-funded research has provided an 

 education for biologists, business owners and the state of North 

 Carolina. 



As editors of Coastwatch, we also feel responsible for 

 educating readers through the stories we choose for the magazine. 

 For each issue, our writers become students, learning about topics 

 that pique their interest. They pass on what they learn in their 

 articles. 



In the latest installment of The Coast series, T. Edward Nickens 

 takes a lesson from recreational fishers at Cape Hatteras. For them, 

 surf fishing is not merely a casual afternoon spent casting a line into 

 the ocean; it's a way of being, a philosophy of life. The folks who 

 are best at this sport understand the fish, their biology, the reasons for 

 their behavior, how they run in certain weather. It's not pure luck. 



Daun Daemon asks how navigators can look at the stars and 

 find their way around our planet's vast oceans. She discovers that 

 celestial navigation is more than simply gazing heavenward. Her 

 source takes her back to school in mathematics and trigonometry. 



Jeannie Norris meets with Sea Grant agent Spencer Rogers for 

 a lesson in physics. He explains what homeowners need to know 

 about the forces of uplift and how they can wreck an unprotected 

 building. And it wouldn't be a complete lesson without instruction 

 on how to prevent this type of damage. 



We hope that these stories, and the others in this issue of 

 Coastwatch, will teach you something — or spark an interest in 

 learning something new. You can't catch the latest on the Carolina 

 coast unless you first cast for it. □ 



Jeannie Norris Daun Daemon 



Contributors 



Writers: 



Debbi Sykes Braswell • David Cecelski • Daun Daemon • T. Edward Nickens • Jeannie Faris Norris 



Photographers: 

 Spencer Rogers • Scott D. Taylor • Erin Wall 



