G'Day Craig, Dave, Chuck and all, Craig wrote: - >The downside of having only one compass rose on a chart >is that if you cut the chart into handy portions that >you can laminate into a usable form for kayaking you lose >the compass rose. There is, however, a tool called a >"parallel course plotter" that has a compass rose >(protractor) etched into it that you can use along with >a nearby line of longitude to determine your true course. Thanks Craig. It was interesting to read such a complete descripton. As you suggested the archaic method is the one most of my GPS owner friends use. I'm still in the market for an economical GPS that I can read in strong sunlight in a rough sea, so appreciated your suggestion of not bothering with GPS maps but combining the GPS with paper charts. My motivation for electronic charts is ease of annotation and reproduction without spoiling a good paper chart. The Garmin Blue Chart Pacific maps facility for computer generation of waypoints, courses, distances and bearings is also very convenient but my set don't give land contours so they are only useful for preparatory work or simple journeys. The parallel course plotter sounds like something we call a Portland course plotter. Its a rotatable compass rose with grid lines attached to a broad "ruler", also with grid lines. This makes working out bearings from a map very simple. Something I've never used but looks handy are transparent paper compass roses available from our local chandler. These can be oriented appropriately and attached anywhere on a map. I've often wondered about orienting such a rose to offset the magnetic variation and writing an appropriate note on the map to say what has been done. But I'm a bit queazy about altering maps too much as who knows where they might wind up and who they might mislead. Dave wrote: - >Craig, my Map60C shows detail equivalent to a paper chart, >because I purchased BlueCharts for the regions I paddle. Dave How specific is the region? Miles, hundreds of miles? I've purchased a map for the east coast of Australia but it doesn't have much land information. Do the Blue Chart maps you use have topo-information? If so I'll try writing to Garmin and see what they can offer. Chuck wrote: - >OziExplorer can import most electronic charts. >Unlike some other GPS map programs, however, >it can also use scanned paper charts. Chuck, Sounds like this could be exactly what I'm looking for. Especially as sometimes local "road maps" are about the most useful and detailed source of information. Thanks everyone! All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** 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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