leong
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Posts posted by leong
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Hi Paul,
I used to race the six-mile event because the start and finish are in the same place.
Long time no see. I do most of my paddling in southeast FL now.
Leon
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Mostly to eat the regular sized sharks. Read about it here:
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Here he is landing:
https://www.facebook.com/CyrilDerreumauxAdventure/videos/1505217906596163
Nice extra long wing paddle.
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The use of kayaks for clandestine military operations goes back as far as World War 2. Especially the British commandos raiding German shipping at Bordeaux by sneaking up the river in 2-man kayaks in order to plant magnetic mines on ships in the harbor.I wonder if kayaks are used by the Ukraine defense forces?
https://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/commemorating-daring-world-war-ii-kayak-raid/
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-57205877
https://www.americanspecialops.com/boats/kayak/ -
>>Most GPS “backcountry nav” phone apps including Gaia GPS do have some version of the feature Leon is talking about."
What I'm talking about is not a feature of a GPS no more than a steering wheel is a feature of an automobile. It's just how a GPS works. You don't have to add anything fancy to it unless it gives you something more useful.
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I just found a similar thread I posted back on 8/7/13. Perhaps this text that I posted then will help clarify this new topic I started:
The GPS knows the kayak’s location and the waypoint’s location in some fixed earth coordinate system. It doesn’t know its own orientation (what direction it’s facing or even if it’s pointing backwards or straight down). It also doesn’t know the heading angle of the kayak. But it does know the Course-Over-Ground (COG) that the kayak is moving along as you paddle and drift with the wind and current. If the COG coincides with the beeline from your present location to the waypoint, the GPS’s arrow (at least it’s an arrow with my GPS) points to the top of the screen. If the kayak’s COG for this latest update is to the left of the present beeline, then the GPS’s arrow points to the right (indicating that you should change your heading to the right), and vice versa. Of course, your COG is the result of the vector sum of the kayak’s forward speed and the cross-velocity vector due to current, wind and wave action. So, the GPS doesn’t really have any idea of current velocity (I mean water speed and direction) or wind or anything else that’s pushing the kayak. All it really knows is the COG and the latest beeline to the waypoint. If you try to keep the arrow always pointing to the top of the screen (via heading changes as necessary) you will be following a straight line to the waypoint.”
I also said in response to someone’s question:
The arrow doesn’t point to the waypoint. It shows you whether your current COG is to the right or left of the COG to the waypoint. But when the arrow points to the top of the display your current COG corresponds to the COG to the waypoint, but it's not pointing to the waypoint. I’m mentioning the arrow because that’s what I use with my GPS. There are other screens like a line on a map that do the equivalent.
Also note that any GPS compass must be disabled.
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2 hours ago, Joseph Berkovitz said:
Most GPS “backcountry nav” phone apps including Gaia GPS do have some version of the feature Leon is talking about. It can take a bit of research to find the feature though.
To access this feature on Gaia:- tap your destination on the map. A details panel will appear at the bottom of the screen
- tap the “…” button
- choose “Guide me” which displays a line on the map from where you are to the destination
- put the map in compass mode by tapping the cross hair icon until the icon turns green and the map rotates dynamically with the phone orientation
- maintain course such that the line always points straight up on the screen. (Not like shown below - I need to go more to the left!)
Having said all that, I maintain that if you can see anything, using a visual range to maintain course via a ferry is always going to be just plain easier than trying to use a device that is not your eyes and brain.
You're right, Joseph - can't argue with that.
However, the point of my post was to make people aware of how a GPS really works. You don't need a phone or a phone app. Just (as in my picture) keep the arrow pointing to the top of the display and there is no need to think about any variables like ferry angle, wind velocity, current drift velocity or paddling velocity. The geometric physics of how a GPS works eliminates all of that. So, in the "goto" waypoint mode the GPS allows you to keep your velocity vector (course over ground velocity) directly on the straight line to the waypoint no matter any side movement caused by wind and/or current. The GPS doesn't know anything about the heading of your kayak, it just knows your velocity vector.
Nevertheless, I don’t know, but the Gaia GPS phone app may add some information useful for the paddler.
I hope everyone now realizes that the complications of ferry angles become irrelevant when you use a GPS.
However, I'm all for knowing how to use ranges and estimating ferry angles.
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Jim, I’m not sure you disagree and I don’t agree your way is very simple because it underutilizes the way a GPS works.
First some essentials of a navigation GPS (turn off compass if it has one):
The GPS knows the lat/long of where it is and it knows velocity it is moving (speed and direction).
Say you enter the location (lat/long or whatever map coordinates) of the place you want to paddle to; i.e., the way point. Assume, like in your example, it’s a foggy night, but also assume that the wind velocity, current velocity and paddling velocity are variable (Note velocity is speed and direction).
1. You could estimate your paddling speed, the changing cross current speed and the changing cross wind resultant cross drift speed and do some complicated arithmetic to compute your ferry angle. Of course, it will change in accordance with the changing the wind velocity cross drift and current velocity.
2. You can do as you said which will work fairly well even with variable wind and current velocity.
Now here’s the easy and most accurate way to paddle to your waypoint (don’t forget to turn off the GPS’s electronic compass): Just paddle so the arrow in the GPS compass page (see picture) is always pointing to the top of the display. After a while if the arrow is a little to the left of the top just paddle a little to the right to bring the arrow back to the top of the display. Similar for a right correction. Note some GPS models use a page with a straight line and a dot or something to keep on top of the straight line.
What could be easier and more accurate than this? In essence, the variable current velocity, your variable paddling velocity and the variable side drift due to variable wind velocity are all implicitly taken care of by the way a GPS works. The GPS doesn’t have to calculate any of the variables and use them to calculate a variable ferry angle.
I use this method whenever I paddle back from the Isles of Shoals to Little Harbor. It so good that on a windy day with a strong tidal current It would take me into the harbor’s inlet even just by following the GPS.
Of course, one should know how to use ranges, calculate ferry angles and use a compass.
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Then again, a GPS knows nothing about cross winds or cross currents and wouldn’t know a ferry angle from a ferry boat. So how does it help you keep your "course over ground" on the straight line from your position to the waypoint you desire to go to?
It cares nothing about its orientation; i.e., it even works if you point it up or point it down or face it backwards.
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I hope you realize that you don’t need to concern yourself with ferry angles or ranges when you are using a GPS that is reliably working.
Of course, you should be familiar with ferry angles for when you won’t or can’t rely on a GPS.
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On 2/6/2021 at 2:30 PM, Jeff Charette said:
Loved paddling around the islands but the crossing is about as much fun as watching paint dry.
To each his (her) own, I guess. Like I enjoy pedaling my road bike, I enjoy forward stroke paddling as much as the destination. Depending on conditions and paddling partners, on my dozen or so paddles out to IOS, my one-way times varied between 1:12 and 1:30 (except on one return trip in heavy winds and rough water it was over 2 hours).
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On 5/21/2021 at 6:12 AM, josko said:
A bicycle has no primary stability yet works for most people.
Same with a normal rocking chair (with curved runners) that works for everyone with no learning time required. Of course if it has short flat runners it has good primary stability but no secondary stability. Also, a keel on a sailboat provides no initial (primary) righting force but has increasing secondary righting force as the boat heels.
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Hmm, Jim, can we count your post as another hijack??
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2 hours ago, Inverseyourself said:
They would just skip the metal detector anyway?
If you look just behind the top of the restricted area sign, you'll see a white SUV. There were two Secret Service guys there. When I started to enter that driveway on my bike one of them immediately came towards me with a machine gun pointed at the ground. I told him I was just taking some pictures and asked if I could take his picture too. He emphatically said no, but I could take a picture of the sign.
It was a handheld machine gun not nearly as big as the machine gun mounted on the bow of the CG boat guarding Mar-a-lago in the picture below. The other picture below is what Mar-a-Lago looks like from the bay side (Palm Beach is a barrier island).
I took both pictures when I paddled to Mar-a-lago along the bay side. It was the day when Prime Minister Abe was there. The CG wouldn't allow me to get close enough to get pictures of people. I've sailed and paddled to Mar-a-Lago on the ocean side too; however, whenever Mr. Orange is there the CG forces you out farther from shore or makes you turn around.
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On 1/29/2021 at 12:48 PM, Pintail said:
Curious minds want to know, Sir Leon: exactly which rescue technique did you employ on this occasion? (Or...which line did you use?) ;^)
Okay, here goes: I had been trolling for tarpon in the ocean along the shore of Palm Beach. After an hour or two I gave up and began paddling back into the bay. The bay (it’s called the Lake Worth Lagoon) is connected to the ocean via the Palm Beach Inlet.
Half way back through the inlet I spotted the two women on SUPs in the middle of the channel frantically trying to paddle against the current but making no headway (the ebb tide was flowing at about 2 knots). Given that there were fast cruisers in the inlet’s channel I thought the gals were in danger so I raised the Riviera Beach Marine Unit on channel 16. But, because of the immediate danger (see the picture of what it looks like when cruisers are barreling through the inlet) I decided the gals had better get out of the channel ASAP.
I didn’t have a tow line so I unfastened my paddle lanyard and told the first woman to fasten it to my stern toggle, hold the end and for the second woman to hold the back of the first woman’s SUP, both lying down. When that was completed, I towed the two of them close to the jetty far away from the busy channel. Then I began a slow tow towards the beach at Peanut Island in the bay (there were some whistling fisherman on the jetty enjoying the view).
As we approached Peanut Island the marine unit came out to meet us. We were all safe at that point so the gals let go, stood up on their boards and paddled the rest of the way to shore. I followed them and someone took the picture I posted above.So, that’s the short version of the story that I told my wife. It’s basically true.
Separately, I include three more pictures from yesterday when I biked over to Mar-a-Lago.
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On 12/15/2020 at 12:33 AM, Pintail said:
Come on, Gary: there were at least that number of paddlers caught on film, being towed by the Leon-machine, years back when we presented our founder with his Explorer, just before he left for foreign climes!
Yes, that was a great day towing Bob Burnett and a train behind him, Sir Christopher. Another memorable day for me was towing the great Derek Hutchinson and a half dozen kayaks behind him after the Run of the Charles race. Since then, it's been easy tows for me like rescuing two nondescript women on SUPs who were caught in a strong ebb tide in the Palm Beach Inlet.
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Thanks from Leon in Florida. Although my current Snap Dragon sprayskirt has a year or two of remaining life, I just ordered perhaps the last Glacier Trek Breathable in my M M size.
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I dunno. I've been fishing from a sea kayak since the '90s and it's more fun that way. You can cover distance faster, especially useful if you see a feeding blitz 1/4 mile away. I've caught Tarpon in Florida ~50 lbs (Tarpon over 40 inches MUST remain in the water, not that I could lift one into a 20 inch wide kayak).
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Another problem with the Yakima roof rack system is that the round bars sing loudly in the wind. I cut down the volume by covering the two bars with insulated pipe covers. I must use the Yakima system because Thule doesn't have a system to fit my 2015 Impala. Although the Yakima roof connector parts seem to be superior to that of the Thule system (which I use on another car) the Thule rectangular bars are superior for wind and connecting kayak carriers.
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Sir Christopher,
Two problems with your solution:
1. On my trip to Florida, once the kayak is sitting almost sideways on the carrier thingies, I load all of my kayaking gear into both hatches and the cockpit. If the cockpit was upside down the stuff in the cockpit would pop the cockpit cover and fall out. And even if I preloaded the boat, it would be difficult to hoist it onto the car (The weight of the gear alone is probably 40 pounds). No room in the car’s trunk and back seat for all of this stuff in addition our luggage for the trip.
2. For such a long trip at generally >70 mph highway speeds driving south I wouldn't trust the kayak sitting on noodles (not enough yaw friction). As it is, I depend on my bow and stern tie downs to hold the kayak firmly in the J carriers.
My trip out of America (to Florida) begins Friday.
Best
Leon-san
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4 hours ago, Pintail said:
<Maybe a small piece of rubber hose over the bar at the connection points?>
Or (as I have done for a few seasons, now) simply wrap swimming pool "noodles" around the bars: they are quite comfy for your boat, I think, Leon. (Oh: I carry my boats upside-down, so this may not appeal to you -- or your aesthetic?) ?
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11 hours ago, Paul Sylvester said:
A rubber bushing to take up the slack? Maybe a small piece of rubber hose over the bar at the connection points? Only have your description for my understanding.
Hi Paul,
Slack is not the problem. You tighten a pair of plates against the cross bar. The problem is that there insufficient friction on a round bar. Look at the video - it's almost the same model carrier that I have. You gave me a good idea, though. I think wrapping the bar below the carrier with some rubber sheeting might provide sufficient friction as you tighten the plates against the bar.
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Who will I see out on the water at the Run of the Charles on April 27, 2024?
in General Message Board
Posted
Paul,
The other reason I always entered the 6-mile race is there are no portages. The last thing I wanted to do was carry a $3 thousand kayak and run with it.