RE: [Paddlewise] Crossings in Fog

Hey Dave,
I am a hiker, who's primary love is bushwhacking (hiking mountains where
there are NO trails).  Greg has relayed his boating experiences to me in
the past, & forwarded this one to me.  After perusing it, I did note
your question of what others had experienced.  I just thought I'd pass
along a few tidbits of MHO.
I have done a number of bushwhacks in the New England area, including a
few solo.  The summit of these mountains which I hike, has a register (a
plastic bottle attached to a tree by the local hiking club.  it has a
pad of paper & pencil for people to enter comments, name, etc.), which
one enters their name to verify that the hiker has completed the peak.
"Will the next climber enter and sign in, please!"   Anyway, from my
perspective, your test trek was absolutely the way to go.  (When it
doesn't count, is when it counts the most).  It's sorta like trying out
new gear in your livingroom.  So when you're in the real situation, you
don't have to think about it.  You and your gear are already best
buddies.  Another analogy would be walking around your yard or
neighborhood following your compass, or going on a short, local paddle
trip in the fog.  Get the picture?

As for the +/- 2 degrees or so:  I certainly don't expect any better
than that.  If you can do better, on a consistent basis, please come and
retrain me!  For additional info, you might try picking up a compass
book in the bookstore, if you haven't already.  In spite of what I think
I know, from these types of books I find new little tricks I didn't
know, & some I had forgotten.  :-)

Enjoy your boating,  keep on practicing & keep on exercising that
compass!  Then you no longer can call it "beginner's luck".  Instead,
it'll be "Experts, skillful luck"  :-)

Take care.
Pete & the cow  (Trail name)

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Gregg Bolton [SMTP:gsb_at_ime.net]
> Sent:	Friday, April 10, 1998 4:43 AM
> To:	PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net
> Cc:	Paul Mattor; Heinold, Peter; BRYBOLT_at_worldnet.att.net
> Subject:	Re: [Paddlewise] Crossings in Fog
> 
> On 10 Apr 98, Dave Kruger wrote:
> 
> > I think this might just have been beginner's luck, however, because
> > I don't think I can read my deck compass to better than +/- 1 or 2
> > degrees, and even in flat water (which this was) I don't think I can
> > HOLD a compass course any better than that, either.  I'd guess this
> > amounts to an error of at least +/- 2 to 3 degrees, on a good day.
> 
> 	Two things here Dave, I don't think there is any such thing as 
> "beginners luck".  There is a possible success ratio that might be 
> observed by "beginners", but it is my opinion that this "success" is 
> a result of a higher level of concentration (or whatever you might 
> like to call it) than might be found in a more "experienced" person - 
> perhaps you can call it "beginners FOCUS"<smile>. 
> 
> 	 Secondly, I agree with your statement about your margin of
> error.  
> I can't speak for others, but my deck compass has 5 degree gradiants 
> making readings of better than 2-3 degrees nearly impossible (from my 
> point of view).  My handheld is gradiated at 2.5(I THINK) degrees, 
> making finer readings possible, but it is nearly impossible for me to 
> do better than do occasional "spot checks" with my handheld - I can't 
> seem to hold the compass level and in front of me and paddle at the 
> same time<smile>.
> 
> > This was a "just for fun" crossing we attempted purposely in the
> > fog, to test ourselves, so it probably does not count.  What
> > experiences have others had?  I'd like to know.
> 
> 	"just for fun" runs are the best way I know to develop the
> skills 
> you might one day need to save your skin, IT COUNTS<smile>.
> 
> 	I personally have had just 2 adventures in REALLY low
> visability.  
> One was a "staff training" situation, we had canceled classes and 
> trips for the day because of the visabilty.  A group of about 6 or 8 
> of us - instructors, guides, and interns, - went out with our 
> compasses and charts and paddled around in our "familiar" waters 
> finding channel markers, points of land, rock out croppings(islands) 
> and the like.  This may not sound like much challenge, but I tell you 
> that with the 30-50 feet of visability we were playing in, it was a 
> KICK!  We - ALL of us - learned a lot that day, and to be honest I 
> was a little dissapointed to see things starting to clear up after 
> only 2-3 hours of fog... I'm sure that was a different story for the 
> lobstermen - we "snuck up" on a number of working lobster boats 
> during our playtime, it's amazing how things sound so much different 
> when you can't see much past the end of your boat!
> 
> 	The second time I had the oppertunity to "Play" in the fog was
> not 
> really play.  A fellow guide and myself were taking a group of 10 
> people on a week long "Coast of Maine, via Bed and Breakfast" trip.  
> The second day of the trip, the fog nearly engulfed us,  I would 
> estimate visabilty to be less than 300 feet.  Our days course was to 
> take us up the coast from Orrs Island, North with several SMALL 
> inlet "crossings" and island hops (probably the longest hop would not 
> be more than 1/4 - 1/2 miles at each leg).   We knew that if we 
> completely lost our skills we could always paddle west and we would 
> eventually hit tera firma so we decided to take the group out.  We 
> had a BLAST!  There was no wind to contend with, and only tide and 
> minimal currents, so we pointed the group in the right direction and 
> told everyone to stay close.  We broke each section of the trip up 
> into small very managable hops from one known point to another 
> keeping a close eye on the compasses and charts.  We had only one 
> even remote close call  - if you can call it that - when a sport 
> fisherman was coming at us at what SEEMed like full speed, we 
> eventually made ourselves seen and he adjusted course an passed us by 
> easily.  The customers admitted afterwards that they were a little 
> reluctant to launch with us, but by the time we hit our first and 
> second "way-points" were having just as much fun as Paul (the other 
> guide) and I.
> Gregg Bolton
> gsb_at_ime.net
> http://w3.ime.net/~gsb

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