NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Dependence on GPS
From: Lu Abel
Date: 2009 Oct 29, 10:13 -0700
From: Lu Abel
Date: 2009 Oct 29, 10:13 -0700
On the other hand, I would rather be aboard a vessel where the person
in charge of its navigation used ALL available means to navigate it and
did not eschew any particular technique.
As to Apache Runner's original post: (1) If he's had two GPSs fail, maybe he's buying the wrong sort of receiver. Most marine-rated GPSs are waterproof -- and there are these things called zip-lock bags; most outdoor stores sell heavy-duty versions of them. (2) I congratulate him on successful navigation including compensation for tidal currents. At the same time, current prediction tables are notoriously inaccurate -- the phase of the moon, wind, recent rains in watersheds drained by bays, and a host of other factors can affect predictions. And a look at the tidal current charts for places like Long Island Sound, Buzzards Bay, or San Francisco Bay will show that tidal currents are significantly affected by local hydrography.
IMHO, the good navigator will set course using all available information (including compensating for tidal currents) but will then check his progress and position by all available means -- including GPS.
I've done 40 mile days in Maine where visibility was less than 100 yards that way. Give up my GPS? Hell no!
Paul Jackson wrote:
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As to Apache Runner's original post: (1) If he's had two GPSs fail, maybe he's buying the wrong sort of receiver. Most marine-rated GPSs are waterproof -- and there are these things called zip-lock bags; most outdoor stores sell heavy-duty versions of them. (2) I congratulate him on successful navigation including compensation for tidal currents. At the same time, current prediction tables are notoriously inaccurate -- the phase of the moon, wind, recent rains in watersheds drained by bays, and a host of other factors can affect predictions. And a look at the tidal current charts for places like Long Island Sound, Buzzards Bay, or San Francisco Bay will show that tidal currents are significantly affected by local hydrography.
IMHO, the good navigator will set course using all available information (including compensating for tidal currents) but will then check his progress and position by all available means -- including GPS.
I've done 40 mile days in Maine where visibility was less than 100 yards that way. Give up my GPS? Hell no!
Paul Jackson wrote:
From: Apache Runner <apacherunner@gmail.com>
Subject: [NavList 10296] Re: Dependence on GPS
To: navlist@fer3.com
Received: Thursday, 29 October, 2009, 6:57 AM
I've stopped using a GPS altogether. I do a lot of sea kayaking and found that it fosters a false sense of security. The marine environment seems to wreak havoc on the receiver. After two years of paddling with one, the receiver failed. I purchased another one, and again, after about two years, the second receiver failed.
Now, I rely on old-fashioned map+compass+dead reckoning work. Recently, when I was doing a 2 mile crossing between islands off the coast of Maine, I was fog-bound. In setting a course, I factored in the likely drainage of a large bay to my north, and was able to hit a navigation buoy one mile through the passage dead-on. I think if I had a GPS, I would have become only confused.
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