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From: Steve Holtzman <sh_at_actglobal.net>
subject: [Paddlewise] Sean Morley's Vancouver Island Circumnavigation and SPOT
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2008 06:12:25 -0700
Sean Morley is trying to break the record for circumnavigating Vancouver
Island. His SPOT shared page can be found at http://tinyurl.com/4ovyl8 

 

Also, Dave Kruger is correct. The email function of the SPOT is different
than the 911 function. You don't have to email your family and friends and
hope they call the rescue in for you. That is why the system uses the GEOS
satellite and tracking system.

 

Email is great for letting your family and friends know where you are. What
most people don't realize is that this is just an ADDITIONAL feature that
other systems don't have.

 

And just because an OK message doesn't go through, doesn't mean the system
is worthless. How many times do you get out of cell phone and VHF range?
Those devices are still carried for those times that they do work - and
should be.

 

I'm not associated with SPOT in any way, just a satisfied owner for almost a
year now. Is it perfect ---no, but it does give me just one more back-up for
when I'm up the proverbial estuary without the proper method of locomotion,
and as a result I'm a little safer with it.

 

Is it worth the cost for you to have one? That's a decision you as an
individual get to make. I would first invest in a GOOD VHF, and then get a
SPOT if I paddled in it's coverage area.

 

Steve Holtzman
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From: Doug Lloyd <douglloyd_at_shaw.ca>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Sean Morley's Vancouver Island Circumnavigation and SPOT
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2008 18:12:34 -0700
Sean's held up in Ucluelet right now - 15 foot waves and 40 knot gusts. Glad 
he got to see VI's coast in the rough lest he think it was a cake walk. 
Couldn't get onto the SPOT website for him the other day - don't know what 
all that was about. Ah for the old days - you either showed up home alive at 
the end of the trip or, well, you didn't.

Doug Lloyd


> Sean Morley is trying to break the record for circumnavigating Vancouver
> Island. His SPOT shared page can be found at http://tinyurl.com/4ovyl8
>
>
>
> Also, Dave Kruger is correct. The email function of the SPOT is different
> than the 911 function. You don't have to email your family and friends and
> hope they call the rescue in for you. That is why the system uses the GEOS
> satellite and tracking system.
>
>
>
> Email is great for letting your family and friends know where you are. 
> What
> most people don't realize is that this is just an ADDITIONAL feature that
> other systems don't have.
>
>
>
> And just because an OK message doesn't go through, doesn't mean the system
> is worthless. How many times do you get out of cell phone and VHF range?
> Those devices are still carried for those times that they do work - and
> should be.
>
>
>
> I'm not associated with SPOT in any way, just a satisfied owner for almost 
> a
> year now. Is it perfect ---no, but it does give me just one more back-up 
> for
> when I'm up the proverbial estuary without the proper method of 
> locomotion,
> and as a result I'm a little safer with it.
>
>
>
> Is it worth the cost for you to have one? That's a decision you as an
> individual get to make. I would first invest in a GOOD VHF, and then get a
> SPOT if I paddled in it's coverage area.
>
>
>
> Steve Holtzman
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From: Michael Dziobak <mdziobak_at_mtu.edu>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Sean Morley's Vancouver Island Circumnavigation and SPOT
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2008 12:29:39 -0400 (EDT)
I just checked environment canada WX for W coast Van I N and there's a hurricane force wind warning this afternoon and tonight. Seas building to 9 meters after midnight. Suppose you were camped some where out there like Lawn pt or N Brooks. What sort of defensive position could be created against 65 kt winds?
-mike

----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Jungers" <crjungers_at_gmail.com>
To: "Doug Lloyd" <douglloyd_at_shaw.ca>
Cc: rcgibbert_at_aol.com, sh_at_actglobal.net, PaddleWise_at_paddlewise.net
Sent: Monday, October 6, 2008 11:22:32 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Sean Morley's Vancouver Island Circumnavigation and SPOT

On Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 7:57 AM, Doug Lloyd <douglloyd_at_shaw.ca> wrote:

> Glad he's finished the west coast portion - seas are building to 24 feet
> north
> island. Surf season comes early this year.
>
>
I'll just get myself another mocha and snuggle under my electric lap
blanket. I wonder if there is an "I Love Lucy" on.

Craig
"I'm nowhere near as dumb as I look"
Jungers

Moses Lake, WA
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From: Dave Kruger <kdruger_at_pacifier.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Sean Morley's Vancouver Island Circumnavigation and SPOT
Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:53:46 -0700
Michael Dziobak wrote:
> I just checked environment canada WX for W coast Van I N and there's a
> hurricane force wind warning this afternoon and tonight. Seas building
> to 9 meters after midnight. Suppose you were camped some where out there
> like Lawn pt or N Brooks. What sort of defensive position could be
> created against 65 kt winds?

First, find some lee for your camp, behind a point or similar.  If you are 
in larger trees, you take some chance of getting whacked by limbs, but the 
big trunks will kill the windforce.  If no trees or they are small, then 
try to build a short wall of larger rocks upwind of your tent.

For the tent, anchors are everything:  sturdy cord or line (I take a 
substantial quantity of quarter inch along, now cut up into convenient 
lengths for use on the tarp) for the tent lines and run to trees, larger 
rocks, or buried items (rocks, smaller limbs or short 3-4 inch diameter 
logs) placed as deadmen in the sand.

If you are on forest soil, you can usually drive stakes that will hold.

Boats:  get them in the trees and tie one end securely to something solid. 
  No trees?  Anchor securely to whatever you've got and hope they are still 
there afterward.

If the tent fails, hie yourself to the boat, punch out the bulkheads, and 
insert yourself into it, wrapped in insulation, and roll over onto your 
thermarest.  You'll get wet, but the boat and the wet insulation will 
prevent hypothermia.

Food/gear:  store in drybags, and tie the drybags to something solid, 
behind a tree or rocky area.

Paddles should be stowed in hatches if possible.  They can easily become 
airborne in 65 kt winds, especially if feathered.  A feathered paddle will 
actually "walk-roll" itself down a flat beach in much lesser breezes. 
Unfeathered not so much.

I've weathered 40 kts in exposed locations in the high mountains, in good 
mountain tents, but I really do not think the commonly sold three-season 
tents would survive that, let alone 65 kts, if exposed.  That is an unholy 
wind.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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