PeterB Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 John Huth once again has volunteered to present a workshop to NSPN. This one will be part 2 of "Kayak Navigation: Finding Our Way", an exploration of navigational methods and how they apply to us as sea kayakers. This will be a continuation of John's first workshop on January 26, and will include full trip planning exercises which include tides and currents and ferrying. “Kayak Navigation: Finding Our Way” by John Huth Sunday, March 9th 1:00PM-4:00 PM Location: Meeting Room, REI, Reading, MA This is a bit about the workshop: “Navigation is a fundamental skill in sea kayaking, as for many other outdoor activities. For the sea kayaker, there are specific challenges faced and useful techniques. The increasing reliance on GPS and electronic devices, while reducing a level of anxiety, has also created a mental barrier between the environment and us. Long before Google Earth, GPS and Global Transit, humans have traveled long distances at sea using only environmental cues and simple instruments. This workshop will explore navigational methods and and and how they apply to us as sea kayakers.” John Huth is a longtime NSPN member who is also a professor of Physics at Harvard U. Over the years John has offered workshops to NSPN which have integrated his skills as a lecturer and researcher of natural phenomena such as weather and waves with his own experiences as a kayaker, which drew him to research the world of primitive navigation , and culminated in the publishing of his book The Lost Art Finding Our Way this past year . This workshop is for MEMBERS ONLY Attendance at the first workshop will be helpful for the attendee, not required . Please RSVP in the Calendar posting for this event . (Go to the calendar posting on March 9th and click "I'm attending")We'd like to limit the workshop to around 30 people, as there is limited table space in the room at REI, so make sure to RSVP as soon as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyce Carpenter Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Any supplies we need to bring, especially if those would be different from the previous session? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 Joyce,Yes, same stuff as last workshop will be useful . There will be more trip planning excercises, so we'll either provide 11x 17 prints of nautical charts or let you know which charts to bring to the workshop. There will be an update with this info posted i the next day or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyce Carpenter Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Great. Thanks Peter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnHuth Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Bring the Boston Harbor chart from last time - you probably won't need parallels or dividers, but they definitely help if you're used to them. Some extra sheets of paper to work notes on, a ruler for sure. If you know how to use a compass as a protractor, so much the better - bring that, but if not, bring a protractor. A pencil with an eraser is a good idea, as opposed to a pen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katherine Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Hi,Sorry, but I will not be able to attend the workshop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Charette Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Unfortunately I will not be able to attend the workshop on Sunday. I was called into work. I'm sorry I will miss it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spuglisi Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 change of plans. I won't be able to make it today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inverseyourself Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 So sorry, last minute change of plan, won't be attending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prudenceb Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Once again, thank you, John, for putting together this training - even if at times my head spun in the way it did back in high school math classes! Enough of it did get through,however, that it will definitely be useful for future paddles!pru Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnHuth Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Thanks, Pru. Yeah, sorry for the complexities at the end, there. I think some people got the details. It gets easier with practice.I found what I think Warren was talking about - it's www.deepzoom.com - but it seems to only work in the Puget Sound area - I could get it to work off the coast of Maine. Maybe it'll gradually spread? I think it requires a fair amount of input of bathymetry data to work, and that's kind of time consuming to get for the coasts of the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lbeale Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Thank you John for your informative presentation. I do have a quick question. On the charts you distributed, you mark nautical miles across the chart. You do this by drawing linear lines with an angle based on mag.north, correct? When I try to replicate this technique, it takes me forever to draw all those lines across the area to be paddled. Do you have a quick way to draw the lines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gcosloy Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 John-thanks again for a very informative session. I think I have learned enough to be able to calculate ferry angles at home. Les-In the first session which you may have missed, John had us use the parallel rule to locate magnet north from a compass rose on the chart and then using dividers space multiple lines parallel one knot apart. You now don't need to add the declination value for magnet but also have a useful measure of distance at least approximately from east to west and west to east. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnHuth Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Yup, those lines all point magnetic north. I sometimes do it with a divider. I've gotten pretty fast with it. I now have a new, cheaper of of doing it - I download the maps as PDF's and use Adobe Illustrator to put them in, and then I go to Kinkos and print them out. Costs nothing and I can get maps at any scale I want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 Yes , Thanks, John for another great workshop.I'd love to see some of the computer animated tide displays on our website. I've seen one of Cobscook Bay,and yours of the Martha's Vineyard/Woods Hole area, and I just took a look at those zoom models of Puget Sound. It would be great to get them all in one place at some point, as they really are useful in planning a trip. As you demonstrated in the Woods Hole animated display, some times the water moves in a direction you wouldn't naturally think it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnHuth Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 How do I post them, Peter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnHuth Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Here's a link to the Nantucket Sound tidal current calculation. As you can see, getting the bathymetry entered is quite a project:http://fvcom.smast.umassd.edu/research_projects/Nsound/You need to scroll down to see the actual animation and click on it to enlarge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djlewis Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 (edited) I love this animation. Makes it apparent Nantucket Sound is basically a huge eddy off of the Gulf of Maine.Here it is without scrolling (or context)...http://fvcom.smast.umassd.edu/research_projects/Nsound/movies/tide1.gif Edited March 11, 2014 by djlewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyD Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Thanks again for the brainfood John....the animation link is remarkable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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