Re: [Paddlewise] Paddling on Instruments - part two

Dave... I really liked your idea about the auto mechanic's creeper and last
night I had another idea for using it. Most small airplane airports have a
compass rose somewhere on the tarmac. The idea is to park your aircraft in
the middle and then rotate it manually (moving the tail) around the points
of the (magnetic) compass ring. This makes quick work of correcting an
aircraft compass.

If you have a general aviation airport nearby a local phone call would
determine if they have one of these and how to get access to it with your
kayak. This would really facilitate correcting a compass on a kayak without
the need to use pesky charts and GPS units.

Some people have an adverse reaction to cutting up what are now expensive
navigational charts. One alternative is to buy a folio of water-resistant
charts from West Marine (or others). These are less expensive than buying
government charts, are copies of government charts, are water-resistant and
often have more information on them that is more specific to small craft
than government charts. I don't know whether they can be cut up and still
remain water-resistant.

Reproducing a compass rose with at least magnetic bearings on each piece is
important.

Thanks for your input.

Craig Jungers
Royal City, WA




On 9/24/07, Dave Kruger <kdruger_at_pacifier.com> wrote:
>
> Craig Jungers wrote:
>
> Another good piece on compass use.  Thanks, Craig.
>
> > How do you lay a course? Well it's simple enough if you have a couple of
> > tools. Airplane pilots use a small protractor which you lay along a
> course
> > with the protractor over a longitude line. You can then read the true
> > heading for that course from the protractor. You must then add or
> subtract
> > variation (look at the compass rose on the chart) and then correct for
> > deviation. [snip]  You could also carry a parallel rules by
> > which you can transfer a course up to the compass rose on the chart and
> > simply read off the magnetic heading. But doing either of these while
> you
> > are in your cockpit on the ocean are difficult at best.
>
> Weems and Plath sells a large-scale protractor which allows taking
> bearings
> directly off a chart, or drawing course lines on a chart.  I use one on
> land to accomplish those tasks, if I can prepare ahead of time.  But, on
> the water, I rely on pre-drawn lines of __magnetic__ north-south, so I can
> take bearings (and draw course lines) directly on the chart.  This avoids
> the necessity to correct for variation.
>
> This works for me because I cut my charts up into folio-size (or smaller)
> chunks, and have them laminated.  The plastic surface takes marks well,
> when dry, from fine-tipped Sharpie _permanent_ markers.  In addition, a
> little alcohol on a rag will remove the marks later, if I want to do so.
>
> Laminated charts eliminate the need for bulky chart enclosures on deck.  I
> just slip the required chart under my deck bungees; when wet, the adhesion
> to the deck is very good.  One of my sometime paddling partners punches a
> hole in a corner of her assembly of laminated chart chunks, and runs a
> binder ring through the holes, clipping the entire thing to a deck line.
> This worked well for her until the ring got in her way and she just
> slipped
> it under the deck lines; it got sloshed off, and she lost her _entire_
> batch of charts for a week-long trip.  We traded chart info for Nutella
> ...
> and the extortion was quite successful!
>
> --
> Dave Kruger
> Astoria, OR
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