[Paddlewise] Dead Reckoning

Last week I had a reminder of how smart it can be to carry a compass and map
even in waters you know and where it is <impossible> to become lost.  I was
traveling alone in a small fishing boat in Georgian Bay, through waters I
know by heart, although they are filled with islands and shoals and the
water level rises and falls each year.  My route took me along a narrow bay,
about 2 miles by 10 miles, between two groups of shoals, heading toward a
side opening between low rocks that lead to more shoals around other islands
and eventually the mainland.  Just after I entered the long bay from an
island cluster, the thickest fog I have ever been in descended in a matter
of minutes and visibility was 25 - 50 yards maximum in all directions.  I
had never encountered anything like that in 27 summers.  No sounds, beacons,
etc., to direct you.  Absolute greyness.  I happened to have my hiking
compass with me and I used the crudest form of dead reckoning to get myself
within 30 yards of shoals and islands I knew.  With the compass, and the
good fortune to be in 100% familiar waters, with reduced speed to permit me
to see a really bad shoal a couple of seconds before the boat was upon it,
it was just a little adventure.  Without a compass, or in only 95% known
waters, proceeding would have risked a wrecked motor, a ripped hull, or
other stupidities.  I couldn't even have turned around with any assurance
and gone back to my starting point, the fog was so disorienting.  Another
dinner table lesson for the kids.

Tom
***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************