JohnHuth

Congratulations! It's a great feeling, for sure.

QUOTE(Kevin B @ Feb 1 2008, 08:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi All, What does everyone have for a GPS unit that they use on the water? Do you like its features or is there anything about it which would lead you to not recommend it? I'm not interested in the philosophical debate in re traditional navigation techniques versus use of electronics. Geeze, Kevin, get with the program, here. Message boards are all about heated philosophical debates. Anyway - Garmin eTrex Vista, here. I'm on my second one. The first one bit the dust - too much salt water in the receiver killed it after maybe 3 years. It's supposedly waterproof. My main use of the thing is to force me to keep up my knottage when I'm working on my forward stroke. It's pretty cost effective and has everything I'd want, except for detailed maps. It has only a very coarse map. It can download, and save waypoints. You can program a route that takes you through waypoints. You can save a trip and download it to a computer, and display your route on top of a map. My greatest affection for this model was when I did a couple of crossings from Mt. Desert to the Cranberries in thick fog - although my map and compass work was fine, it was reassuring to have the waypoints click off. If this one goes belly up, I'm not sure what I'd get. - I might just get another Vista. So, there's a testimonial, I suppose.

Yup, MagicSeaweed is a good site. Here's another one: http://www.oceanweather.com/data/ With this one, you can see distant storms that can kick up swells. You have to keep in mind the directionality of where swells will be traveling, and where the beaches are facing. That's why Rhode Island has particularly good surfing - around the Newport area. I'll try to cover this.

If any of you have special requests for areas you'd like to see me emphasize, please let me know. I found some new material, thanks to Steve Maynard - this is mainly in large scale weather patterns.

I flyfish out of my kayak - mainly for blues and stripers. I'd be willing to be a contact.

Great to hear that it's being advocated. The fewer drugs, the better. On the other hand, I think Charles River water may have the opposite effect.

Dromedaries for me - front and rear hatches, as close to the cockpit as I can pack them. Related question - how many liters per day do y'all use for a trip? I had guessed 5, but found that I consumed more like 6 liters per day. Part of that was my diet - oatmeal at breakfast, etc. BUT, I know others who consume 4. I like to err on the side of extra hydration, even if I have to get up in the middle of the night from my tent.

Adam - Sounds like Rick's your guy, here. I'm not anywhere near as far on this, so, I'll leave it to you two guys to work it out, but ring anytime if you have some other questions you think I could help with. JH

Whatcha got so far? I have some friends who might be able to help. You'll have to let me check a bit.

I had a chance to play with radar reflectors about two years ago. I went to such outrageous lengths as inflating weather balloons to hoist up reflectors in the sky. I even tried to use a kite to hoist a radar reflector. Obviously this isn't terribly practical - but it was an interesting exercise. In the tests, I found that, in moderately choppy conditions, there's almost nothing that you can do by way of having a reflector on board that works - it gets totally swamped by wave clutter. The balloon/kite idea actually does work, but it's impractical. I don't know about SAR - but if you're trying to make yourself visible in the fog, you'd have to turn it on. So, I'm just in the conventional mode - flares, VHF, smoke, horn. If it's foggy, I'll do a securite' call when appropriate.

I got my silicon grease in a diving shop. As far as the original question - I don't know. BUT...maybe this is an idea - when my fingers or toes get numb from the cold, I know that it hurts by far the most when they warm up. So, maybe it's the feeling of blood returning to parts of your head that are painful. Just a thought.

David Lewis and Mark Stephens for introducing me to Cohasset rips, and the outflow of Little Harbor. Suz, Rick, and Werner for inspiring me to improve in many ways. David Lewis, again - this time for forcing me to think through tides.

Keith - Good point. I hadn't thought about practicing with them, but it makes a lot of sense. I'll try it on some windy, cold day, when the waves are breaking etc. I actually do worry about having the other stuff (smoke, parachute flares) in the day - hatch. Will it be accessible when I really need it, and under the conditions when I'd probably need it. Having the gun on a tether is a good thought, too. Thanks for the post. John

If you want something a bit more local, you can try Boxells Chandlery. It's in South Boston: http://www.cgedwards.com/Boxells/Chandlery.html I think they carry the mini-flares, but you can call them in advance, just to check. They seem to be able to order any flares, and get fast delivery on it - save yourself the hazmat charge. FWIW - for me: flare gun, flares in vest, hand-held flares, smoke, and a parachute flare in the hatch. I used to carry the Orion hand held shoot-'em flares, but went back to the gun, because I felt it would be easier to manage in an emergency (cold fingers, injury, whatever, but that's just a guess, I've never had to use a flare...knock wood) and wouldn't scorch my fingers. BTW, the parachute flare is probably overkill - the rating says it should be visible for 30 miles.

Great article! That's my experience - try to do anything sustained in the 4.5-4.6 kt range, you find that any little thing conspires to slow you down. Going over a bit of shallow water - it's like vice grips are grabbing hold of your kayak.

Random thread comments: I've had an M 34 for about three years now. It's a brute and really stands up to a lot of abuse. It's larger, so that might be a drawback. Normal wear and tear included slightly oxidized charger contacts - easily cleaned. I wear it strapped onto my PFD - no bags. After too much salt water exposure, the sound quality suffered, and I had to give it a 24 hour dunk in fresh water. In terms of making sure the VHF transmits properly - there is the "radio check" game, which can be frustrating. If you go onto channel 9 or somesuch, and say "Radio check please..over" some kind soul who is in range, should say "Radio check, we read you, over..." This doesn't always happen. The coast guard doesn't like you to use channel 16, the emergency channel, but that's probably the one channel you want to be sure gets through, and the CG has a lot of repeaters along the coast to guarantee that they receive the signal. So, I'll confess that I will sometimes radio check on 16, after striking out on other channels. Of course, this gets an irate response from the CG radio operators... I'd seen worse abuses of channel 16, however. If I'm paddling solo, I will sometimes turn on the VHF to listen on 16, or a channel that's being used by locals (e.g. listen to the lobstermen chatter). Sometimes, I'll periodically hit the weather channel, to get an update. Every so often, if weather is moving through, it's good to get updates.

Hey, Ed - Quick addendum to this. Last week, I had dinner with an ex-grad student of mine. Her brother was there, and he's a blue-water sailor. He mainly captains boats for rich guys who can't sail, and spends a lot of time in hurricane alley in the Atlantic. Canaries, Cape Verde, runs to the Windward Islands, Antilles, etc. He's been doing this for 10 years. We compared notes on all sorts of things - waves, weather, oncoming hurricanes, the accuracy of GPS'es. It was quite fun (well, for me, anyway). One thing he noted was the sunrises and sunsets you get at a certain time on the approach of a hurricane - the whole sky gets painted red, he says that his hair stands on end when he sees one of these skies, because he always associates it with approaching hurricanes. I remember when Noel was coming in, the sunset the day before had a huge sheet of red across it. Nothing definitive or professorial....just two guys comparing notes.

I've caught blues and stripers in two boats - both are Wilderness Systems. One is the Pamlico, and the other is a Tempest 170. Pamlico = open tandem, Tempest = sea kayak. The Pamlico is a bit easier, because it's easier to move stuff around, and mess around once you've caught it - but it's not suited for higher seas. I fly fish, but I suppose you can do other kinds of fishing. I typically do a combination of trolling and casting. Trolling takes a bit of imagination, but can be done - I cast in a good direction (depends on the wind and other factors) - in the Pamlico, that's open, I loop the line around my toe and lean the rod on my shoulder. When I feel a tug, I put down the paddle, and pick up the rod, and work the line. I have to periodically clear it from seaweed. (a clouser pattern is good for this) If I find feeding signs, I cast to the region. In the Tempest, which is a bona fide sea kayak, I cast and then stow the back of the rod in the bungees, and leave a little loop of line loose through the bungees to see when a fish hits - then pull up the rod and work it. Fishing isn't the normal thing I do when kayaking, but even this summer, I've caught a decent number of stripers in both kayaks.

Some more sheltered options include - putting in on the causeway south of the Chatham Coast Guard station and paddling south around North Monomoy Island - the flats can be a bit tricky to negotiate at low tides. Also, you could put in at Harding beach and paddle over to the flats of the Monomoy's. If you want something more quiet and inland, there's the Herring River in Harwich Port. You can put in where Lower County Road crosses the Herring, and paddle to the mouth, play around a bit, or paddle upstream a few miles. It's a wildlife refuge, and there are tons of birds there, all year round (including Wilson's Snipes....never thought I'd ever see a *real* snipe).

Congratulations!! Waay cool. Mary, I'm sure you'll get it soon enough. I remember a couple of high level instructors telling me about the times they first assessed and something went awry - so you're in very good company.

What time did you leave work? I was out at a cross country meet, where my daughter was running. I remember it being pretty clear around 4 PM (this was in Newton), and I could see some high whispy cirrus (maybe not classic mares' tails, but definitely had the whispy structure) around 4:30-4:40 or so. Then, I looked up again, and ...whoa.... it was being over taken by cirrostratus - this was maybe 5 PM? Then, by sunset it was this huge sheet of red with little undulations in it. I remember thinking "that sucker's moving in fast..." Anyway, it was quite spectacular. (I *think* it's mares' tails - apostrophe after the "s").

Yup, I saw that, too. It was beautiful right at the sunset, as the clouds were all illuminated and were a continuous sheet of red. (note: good evidence that you can't trust "red sky at night, sailor's delight" as a weather adage) It was/is the approaching tropical storm - as hurricanes dissapate, the remnants gather speed and move through quickly - BUT - it looks like an approaching low pressure system/warm front in terms of the clouds. Generally, if signs move rapidly it means the change happens faster. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Story: During one of his later voyages, Columbus saw the signs of an incoming hurricane, and sought shelter in Hispanola. Because Columbus was on the "outs" with the Spanish governor, he refused to let Columbus hole up in the harbor. The Governor, also not believing Columbus, also continued with his plans to send out a large fleet to sail to Spain. According to the story, Columbus tried to persuade the Governor not to send out the fleet, but couldn't persuade him. Columbus quickly sailed to the lee side of the island, and found a decent hurricane hole and weathered the storm. The entire fleet was never heard from again. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't personally have a lot of experience with hurricanes, but I've been told that the classic signs are what seems like a rapidly approaching low pressure system, and also large swells with a very long period (makes sense, huh?). Also, for rotating storms, you can figure out the relative center of the storm with respect to you, by the wind direction. Right now, the wind is out of the east, meaning the storm center is nearly due south of us - since the winds rotate counter clockwise around a hurricane (7:45 AM, Saturday, Nov. 3rd) Check out the www.oceanweather.com - it has some nice plots of pressure contours and wind directions. Right now, it's particularly interesting because of this storm.

NSPN to the rescue!!! I was out on the Charles yesterday - I nominally regard the Charles as an open sewer with bridges. I was playing with a move I learned at the Bar Harbor Symposium - the "cross-bow draw". It's actually a pretty nifty turning stroke, if done properly. I was marveling at how tightly I could turn with it, when *WHOOPS*....upside down in the Charles. Before I was even up, I was thinking about this here thread..... So, my forward stroke was never as powerful as before, as I zipped back to my car, thinking about my sinuses smelling like a sewer the whole time. I was into CVS as fast as I could get, and began dosing myself with saline spray. So far, so good. But, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm guilty of said heretical practices. So, on one day in Maine, I'm practicing rescues and such, sweltering in my drysuit....but then the next day, when I'm out on a "real" paddle to one of the MITA islands, it's rainy, windy with some chop, making two mile crossings, I'm in farmer john's, and a shortsleeve top - maybe with a cag if I need it. I was much more comfortable in the latter. How fast can you do a rescue? Lessee, here. Roll - maybe 2-5 seconds? Reentry and roll - maybe 15-20 seconds? Tee rescue, maybe 80 seconds? If the air temp is warm, and you can get back in fast....then comfort isn't a crazy goal. On the other hand, if the water temperature is 38 degrees, the air temperature is 45, and the wind and rain is whipping along at 15 knots, no contest: drysuit, fleece etc. It's those ambiguous situations that are difficult.

Peter - Are you getting one of those fancy-schmancy shelters that Dale Williams sells? I got one - love it...although I haven't had to use it in any emergencies. John H.