Re: [Paddlewise] Maps versus Charts

From: Gordin Warner <gwarner2_at_shaw.ca>
Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 22:29:13 -0700
Doug Lloyd wrote:


> What Gordin, you one of those Chris Duff-like paddkers? How did that 
> go...paddle out, turn right, and keep the coast to your right the whole 
> way? :-)
>
> Yeah, guide books are hardly essential though. Gotta give Kermantis credit 
> for marketing stratagem.


No I'm no Chris Duff.  Often I turn left (see below). And I'm not anti guide 
book.  One look at my library and you'd see countless guide books from Rocky 
Mountain trails, Hawaiian Island snorkel sites, Vancouver Island foot paths, 
hiking trails of Vancouver Island, cycling routes of BC, Alberta, 
Washington, Ontario, to paddle routes along the Welsh Coast and on and on.

Like Craig Jungers I love guide books and I think he has a good perspective 
on them.  His is certainly a lot better then the woman who wormed her way 
onto a trip I put together in the Deer Group off of Bamfield a few years 
ago.  She had a copy of Mary Ann Snowdon's guide book and was essentially 
trophy hunting.  She had to bag every campsite that was mentioned in the 
book.  Two of these sites were miles apart and for her she had to sprint 
from one perfectly beautiful camp site to the next one just to ensure we got 
there and could claim it ahead of all the other kayakers in the area.  I'm 
more of a base camp and explore up and down the coast sort of guy.  That's 
one of the reasons I seldom paddle the multi day point A to point B trip.

I remember this woman  got miffed when I insisted we go down, "the left 
side," of an island as it was more interesting.  She slagged me cause I did 
not have a chart on my foredeck.  Something about not knowing what I was 
talking about. Having explored the area the year before I left it rolled up 
and tucked away under the foredeck.  We took the left route.  The last day 
we came back the more direct route she had wanted to paddle.  People thanked 
me for insisting on the out bound route, they liked the caves, arches, surge 
channels and rock cuts we paddled through as opposed to the featureless 
return trip.  Sometimes it's the journey and not the destination that is 
more remarkable.

The experience sort of soured me on the guide book as bible and the 
evangelical devotion to the book of words thing.

You are one hundred per cent right regarding his marketing strategies. Look 
for big things from him in the future.

Gordin Warner 
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Received on Tue May 13 2008 - 22:25:50 PDT

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