Are you seriously proposing that a fix accuracy of 25 feet or so will/could be a factor in a life or death situation? For my amusement, using some freeware moving map software interfaced to my old Garmin GPS-38, I laid out a route, uploaded it to the GPS and followed it while paddeling last Sunday. The accuracy of the process was dazzling! Could I have navigated as well with a compass and current tables... sure. My point is that we spend to much time with trivia and not enough with the important things. In my opinion the single most important thing(s) for ANYBODY involved with small boats are to make dammed sure what kind of weather lies in the immediate future and the state of the tides and currents. Everybody should carry AND USE some kind of radio which will receive the local marine forecast! >From bitter experience I learned to resist the urge to go if the weather will be questionable (for the type of boat you are using.) I finished read Matt Booze's book describing kayaking disasters. Ignoring or being ignorant of impending bad weather is a thread which weaves through to many of the incidents described. Incidentally, your remarks about the Sound are totally correct. I generally navigated )with great success) with hand bearing compass and depth sounder. Richard Smith <It seems to me GPS accuracy is a lot more relevant > when you are beyond the sight of land, or in an area where navigational > markers and charts are not as well developed.> *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue May 16 2000 - 06:19:00 PDT
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