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 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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 >> >> *************************************************************************** >> PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not >> to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission >> Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net >> Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net >> Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ >> *************************************************************************** > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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