Re: [Paddlewise] Best pitch for owning a GPS

From: Dave Kruger <kdruger_at_pacifier.com>
Date: Mon, 01 Jan 2007 14:09:22 -0800
Robert Livingston wrote:

> You are assuming that the chart is accurate and they generally are. But 
> you have to recognize that if you are relying on every rock to be within 
> 100 feet of where the GPS would put it that you might run into an area 
> that the map makers were in error. These are not regions that commercial 
> traffic is very interested in. So you have to stay alert.

I'd like to reinforce this.  One day, while gunkholing its shore, I found 
several near-surface underwater rocks just off Gibraltor Island, in the 
Broken Group, Vancouver Island, which were mis-charted by 100 feet or more. 
  Not an issue for me that day, but a good caveat for future dependency on 
a GPS.  Better to mainly depend on your eyes, and glance at the GPS now and 
then to confirm what you see, or to see if there is a hidden rock in the 
vicinity.

Robert's description of using his GPS to route-find through a reef maze to 
a safe harbor was a telling illustration, also, of the value of a unit. 
I'd want a chart on deck, too, in case the thing cratered mid-passage, so I 
could patch my way through the old way.  I really like charts, and enjoy 
matching what is on the chart to what I see.  For me, the GPS is mostly a 
tool.  Some days, I leave it home, to get away from looking at that blame 
screen!

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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Received on Mon Jan 01 2007 - 14:10:11 PST

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