I was lucky enough to get Dave's cut up charts for Gwaii Haanas and they were a delight to work with. I wouldn't hesitate to do the same to charts in the future, it makes them really easy to use during the voyage. Jim Tibensky *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
At 06:57 AM 11/19/2003 -0800, James wrote: >I was lucky enough to get Dave's cut up charts for Gwaii Haanas and they >were a delight to work with. I wouldn't hesitate to do the same to >charts in the future, it makes them really easy to use during the voyage. There is an implication in cutting up charts that I am surprised that nobody has mentioned yet. Navigation charts always have a compass rose somewhere on the chart that is used to plot courses on the chart. Cutting up the chart means you only have the compass rose on one page of the chart. Fortunately, the most recent issue of Sea Kayaker magazine has an answer to this problem in an article titled "The Kayakers Course Plotter". Essentially it contains a copy of a compass rose that can be photocopied and instructions on how to create an overlay that can be position onto the relevant area of a chart. From what I have read in this thread it appears that it would work well for those creating a binder of chart pages. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Hi all, Here's some related experience. Not quite cutting up charts but the end result is the same. First, I must make the disclaimer that I've not paddled in areas where I needed anything but eye-ball navigation, mostly inland flat-water. I HAVE sailed extensively and take particular pride in my DR navigation, so I am familiar with the reasons for a compass rose and proper marine charts. That said, I find paddling with topo's more useful than marine charts. Typically I'm in inland waters and since I don't have a depth sounder aside from the paddle, depths contours beyond 220 cm are not very useful for navigation, other than to predict where the surf is likely to be. I do find the details on the topos to be real handy when trying to locate my position, as I can normally only see the things that are close to me. That mico tower a few thousand yards back from the shore is always hidden from view by something close at hand, and the channel marks are somewhere "out there" (sweeping my arm seaward.) A large-scale marine chart is great for route planning and determining courses between islands etc. So a combination of marine chart and close-up topo's works for me. I use www.topozone.com and via a graphics editor cut-and-paste sections together to create letter-size chartlets of areas I intend to paddle or may find myself in during the outing. On these I mark course lines between features using the DR notation like "C115T/108M" above the line and "D3.5" below the line. I show both true and mag courses because I use a deck compass and a GPS at times. (By the way, make sure that steel shotgun you are carrying for bear isn't packed too close to your compass!) The course lines can be plotted by referencing a single lat or lon line on the topo segment once the bearing has been picked off the planning chart, which may be an electronic chart in your computer. After the course lines are on the topos, I laminate them with a 3M adhesive lamination machine that I happen to have for business purposes, although I'm going to try the waterproof papers suggested in this thread. I always pre-enter waypoints in my GPS as it has a handy feature of allowing you to point the unit in some direction and it will show you the waypoints that are over there. Makes it easy to point the boat at an invisible waypoint and note the compass course. At the put-in I stick the charts under the deck bungies, turn on the GPS and take a waypoint before I launch to be sure I didn't error picking the location from the chart. While paddling the GPS is fun to watch as it shows course and speed and a chart of the area - either topo or marine depending on what's loaded. However, I assume the batteries will die or I'll smash the unit with the paddle when I need it most so I'm always prepared to carry on using the paper charts and compass. Does that sound like I paddle in order to have a reason to navigate rather than navigate so I can paddle? Maybe so, and I bet there are many who wouldn't enjoy all that chart work. But I do, and it has worked out very well so far (which hasn't been all that far.) Regards, Carey *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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