I have used regular charts, folded once and laminated, on my buddy's sailboat. Not too bad, a bit bulky for the kayak, but foldable once laminated. I have also tried to use the "strip charts" which are the only current, large scale charts for the Sunshine Coast area of BC. These are "presliced" into 11x17 chunks, with a bit of overlap. There are no compass roses on them, and lines of latitude only every 5 miles or so, no smaller graduations. The north orientation is such as to provide the best use of the paper, so they vary in angle all over the place. Maybe OK for someone in a fast powerboat in good weather, but very frustrating for someone used to a "real" chart, and navigating the old fashioned way. It is almost impossible to estimate distances with these charts, without dividers to step off the distance from the scale provided. In a small boat or kayak, very hard to use. I am used to being able to "eyeball" a distance over to the edge of the chart, and get within 10%. For better accuracy, I use my hand to measure the distance. As for topo sheets, forget using them in Canada. They are so out of date as to be hilarious. For example, the topo sheet of Prince Rupert shows Ridley Island as still being an island. In fact, a coal port and grain terminal was built, and a massive rail yard put where the channel was filled in, over 20 years ago! The chart, on the other hand, even shows the biggish rocks that you have to walk your kayak around if you use the put-in next to the grain terminal. Rob. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Nov 21 2003 - 09:43:48 PST
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