Re: [Paddlewise] Suggestions about software for Tides & Currents

Thanks for your comments. I feel pretty comfortable  about navigating with
compass and detailed maps, and being such a "shore-hugger" ( and
slow -paddler) ,  usually manage to stay orientated . HOWEVER., today....
looking over this Summers  weather stats for Cambridge Bay ( less than 100
nautical miles NorthEast of our route), I realize that in cool/wet summers
(like 1999)  low clouds may obscure the topography that I would use to plot
a route by. With a 100 foot  ceiling, and many miles of 300 foot diabase
sills/cliffs to work around, I can see that this might be a problem. There
was also a fair amount of fog over the colder water this year from what I
have been able to figure.

I have been giving serious consideration to a GPS, for  this  trip. I hate
to say it ,  but it's less the cost that holds me back,as much as crossing a
"tech" philosophical divide, and  worrying about GPS reliability  at 68
degrees latitude.( and battery life at 50F, and salt water spray.etc). But I
do hear what you are saying, I spent  8 yrs in San Francisco, and 4 more  in
Seattle. Fog is a wonderful cocoon to lose oneself in, but I doubt paddling
an open tandem canoe is the time to experience it. (GRIN)

Thanks!
rich dempsey
ridem_at_msn.com




-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Bradley <kobra_at_interlinx.qc.ca>
To: Rich Dempsey <rdempsey_at_wyoming.com>
Date: Saturday, October 16, 1999 5:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Suggestions about software for Tides & Currents


>Hi Rich,
>
>Glad to see there are people out there interested in paddling with ice in
their
>water! I was in the Bathurst Inlet area many years ago and have a little
>advice. While I wasn't kayaking at the time, I didn't notice that much of a
>tide rise or fall, at least on the west coast. I'd say a few feet at the
most.
>
>I would strongly advise getting a GPS unit however. The west coast has some
>hills for helping you navigate, but the many low islands and the generally
low
>coastline on the east side is very confusing very fast. A GPS really helps
sort
>out where one is.
>
>Good luck with your planning and trip!
>
>Michael Bradley
>Hatley Quebec
>
>Rich Dempsey wrote:
>
>> Background: Planning a trip next summer that involves a 90 mile crossing
>> through the islands of Bathurst Inlet on the Canadian Arctic Coast. The
new
>> CHS Tide and Current tables (for $6.50CND)  for the Arctic Ocean & Hudson
>> Bay region were just released yesterday, which I am ordering along with
the
>> appropriate nautical charts.
>>
>> Out of boredom (AND at my worksite!) I have browsed some software for
tide
>> and current nautical programs, and downloaded a demo for  one of them. I
DO
>> NOT take my laptop with me paddling, and could never justify the price
>>  some start at $100 USD for tides and currents only, working their way up
to
>> professional programs, perhaps better suited to bringing an icebreaker
and
>> tugs pulling supply barges through the Northwest Passage!!! for $450). An
OT
>> Tripper might be a barge, but.....
>>
>> Has anyone used this "sailboat" type technology, and have opinions on
their
>> utility (as opposed to  the antediluvian methods of paper and pen
>> ,watch,compass, and map ? (Just last summer I finally got an EPIRB, and
>> still consider a GPS to be "too expensive,too new-fangeled" ....but my
>> "wariness" is more anti-tech and philosophical, than "too stupid to use".
>>
>> Just curious. My wife would kill me if she knew I was even "flirting"
with
>> such a software program. (GRIN).
>>
>> Rich Dempsey
>> ridem_at_msn.com
>>
>>
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