lhunt

Also getting a warning from Firefox - I wasn't when I first replied to this topic, though.

Did you try just leaving the email stuff blank? I just changed passwords successfully by only filling in "old password" and "new password" (twice)... If it still doesn't work, try a different browser (?)

-Lisa

Grave's Beach is private, and Singing Beach is only for swimmers in season. Lynch Park is better off season (gets a little loud in the summer), but it has picnic tables, flushies, and ice cream (!) There is also Stramski's Beach in Marblehead, the Willows, and Winter Island. As for "interesting", that's sort of in the eye of the beholder. But it's worth making a trip to Little Misery when there is a very low tide to check out the wreck there.

Here is a little island medley from over the years - well, mostly islands :-)

-Lisa

Correction: It's Wingaersheek/Coffin’s Beach at the mouth of the Annisquam.

Duh. I hate stupid mistakes. Especially when I'm making them (!)

Go paddle Essex Bay and enjoy yourselves!

Yes, I second that, Essex Bay rocks. It's worthwhile to understand the tides there, though, as many parts of it become impassable 2 hours before/after low tide, and you can spend a lot of time wandering around trying to find a channel. Fox Creek is impassable within 3 hours of low tide, maybe a little more. Also I should mention I've seen it a little rough in the bay when the tide is running if there is also a strong wind.

Another river/ocean transition region is the Annisquam River. You can launch from the Gloucester High School "Dun Fudgin'" ramp (park near the tennis courts). That you can do tide in or tide out, but note that there will be a current one way or the other. It's usually not much worse than the current in the fastest parts of the Concord River, but there are exceptions. I have occasionally seen a really hard slog if there is a strong headwind as well as the current. You can get a little taste of open water if you poke your nose out from the mouth of the Annisquam near Crane's Beach, but only on a very calm day if you're doing level 2 stuff, of course. Probably best to steer clear of the Blynman Canal (the bit under the bridge going out to Gloucester Harbor) unless you understand the tidal effects there.

Hilarious! But he really needs to work on his forward stroke.

Yes, but it's hard to have a good vertical stroke in high traffic conditions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/06/kayak-free-kayaking_n_3714525.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

How do you attach/mount your GPS so you can check it easily while using it as you described? I ask because i assume it is necessary to have the screen facing you which suggests some type of mount as opposed to stuck under bungies.

Here are my low tech Rube Goldberg solutions so far... The first one is ugly but you can mount both your GPS and a seagull at the same time (seagull permitting, of course). The second one is more minimalistic and probably only works because of the cockpit recess on my new baby. I also once made one out of a wedge of foam, with a hole drilled for a skinny piece of PVC pipe, and the bungees went through the hole. That one was good but didn't let the wind through.

In a pinch you can put a wedge of foam in the drybag with the GPS and put the whole thing under the bungees.

This is mostly just to have speed and distance, by the way, and to keep a log of where I've been. Getting a ferry angle is just a sideline.

...it consistently pointed to the mark no matter what I did or stated otherwise just has it has done all these years hundreds of times...

Ah, but were you pointing it to the tree? Or in front of you?

When walking the GPS works as you expect it to. To simulate kayaking, you have to "sidle" at a 45 deg. angle away from the tree while pointing the GPS at the tree. Because in a kayak you think you are going to the tree, but the wind is blowing you sideways.

The GPS will tell you to sidle left some more, some more, some more, there, that's it. If you turn the way it suggests (still sidling), you will eventually end up walking sideways toward the tree. When the pointer goes to the top of the screen, you are sidling toward the tree, even though you are pointing the GPS AWAY from the tree.

I know it's complicated, but just think "I'm in a boat. That tree is a lighthouse. I'm paddling straight toward the lighthouse, but the wind is blowing me sideways."

...Or are you meaning to imply that heading in quotes might not corresponding to the kayak's heading?

Yes. Looks like a heading on the display.

...it suggests to me that knowing how to use ranges and/or estimate ferry angles on the fly remains a useful skill.

I meant to answer this one, too... Yes, of course. It's faster and more fun, and we have lots of lobster pots around here (!)

GPS is a good backup if it's very important and there are no good ranges.

Leon & Lisa

Sounds like the garmin GPS's are actually showing you the course over ground (COG) to the waypoint, not the heading or the bearing to the waypoint? Is that the default setting, a special setting, or what it defaults to when you turn off the magnetic compass?

best

Phil

Another way to think of it... A GPS with no internal magnetic compass does not know your compass heading. How could it? We are so used to a compass that you point in this direction or that to see which way we are pointing (compass heading). But you can take your compass-less GPS and spin around to your heart's content - the display will be meaningless if you are standing still.

The GPS can only figure out your "heading" by taking your location now, and again in one second, and again the next second. It compares the coordinates to get your current direction of travel, and spins the display ("compass" icon or map) accordingly, putting your direction straight up on the screen. If you are walking with the GPS pointing in front of you, it seems to work like a compass (because you are moving and pointing in the same direction). But when you are paddling, as we know, the direction you are pointing in (compass heading) is often different than the direction you are moving in. The GPS only knows the latter, so that's what it works with. Turns out that's much more useful information anyway.

So the simple answer is that's how they all work if you turn off the magnetic compass. Dumber is better.

Oh, and I'm assuming it is set to "track up", not "track north".

...one weakness of using a GPS in the manner described is that it requires the needed waypoint to be in the GPS...

Well, not really. If you are aiming at a point, a harbor, or an island, you can use the map display. Zoom it appropriately, then orient yourself so that the feature is at the top of the screen and Bob's your uncle. Depends, of course, on how good your display is, and how good your eyesight is... but it works for me more often than not. Mostly you just have to watch the display until it stabilizes, then figure out some shore feature or something to head to, then check the display periodically for updates.

-Lisa

On the Garmin GPSMap GPS's under "setup" for "heading" you can tell it to use the compass only when your speed is below something for longer than something seconds. I have it set to 0 for 90 seconds when kayaking.

Note that when you disable your compass you can still use the "compass" page. But it will be showing your direction based on how you move rather than which direction you point in. That means North might not actually point North. If you have your GPS positioned normally on your deck, and are moving North, the "compass" will show North straight in front of you. But if there is a current involved, you might actually be pointing NorthEast. It's a little disorienting, though it does get you there in the end.

I like to use the map page and follow the find pointer (actually a line) there. You get the same effect - the waypoint you are moving toward might show as being right in front of you on the screen, but the actual island or whatever might be off to the left of your bow. Still, I find that to be less disorienting, somehow. Maybe I'm just used to it.

-Lisa

Well done - a constellation of achievement!

-Lisa

Good thinking, Liz, I might have thought about the water and the convenience store, but maybe not the towel.

It seems like if it happens paddling, a nice long dunking (at shore) is the best thing, no? It certainly helped me yesterday. Sweating requires evaporation to cool you, right? So in very humid weather it doesn't cool you off as well, and I think your core temperature can go up even if you have had enough water and electrolytes. Total immersion actually washes the heat away with no need for evaporation.

Congratulations to Sid Cohen for taking 3rd place in the Sea Kayak class of the Blackburn Challenge out of a field of about 26. His time was 3:40:42.

Yes, he beat me soundly (!) A few pix and some preliminary results are here.

This was the hottest race I've ever been in - sweltering pretty much up 'til Straitsmouth, then cooler, then hot again in the harbor. Has anybody ever figured out how to install an air conditioner in a kayak? (OK, yes, I know, but rolling takes valuable time...)

-Lisa

OK, I think I have to cop to it, when going slowly I don't use as good a stroke as when going fast. Rotation not as pronounced, with less shoulder in it. Putting in that extra bit of twist at the end feels too meaningless. OK, I guess just meaningless like calisthenics are meaningless...

Probably my fast stroke would get better if I practiced it ALL the time, but one has to enjoy life a little, too.

I like Leon's video, but that guy is still going a lot faster than we do sometimes in a big group. It's when going much slower than normal that the difficulties really set in. Also, I find that resting with paddle down is not necessarily a great choice in rough water.

Josko is asking just about speed, but I find this issue really comes to the fore in conditions. It can be hard to go very slowly in conditions unless you actually practice it.

Just realized you other guys are thinking the same way - will have to learn to type faster!

-Lisa

...Yes, on my GPSMap78 I see a thin line from my current position to the next leg of the route...

Thanks, Greg. Looks like the GPSMap78 has genuinely new software. Fascinating. Now you've got me coveting yet another gadget :-)

Hmm... On the map page, do you see a line from your current position to the next waypoint on the route (similar to doing a "find"?) If so, there must be a setting I'm missing. If not, it seems pretty similar to navigating following a track, in that if you drift far enough away from the route it will be off the map page, requiring a stop to zoom out.

-Lisa

We also discovered that the route's current "find" pointer line doesn't appear on the map page for either GPS type, only on the compass page. I didn't remember that from before. Do you use the compass page to navigate? I think given that I prefer navigating by track. At least you can see where you are. Still going to play with it, though, when I get some more time.

-Lisa

...Any ideas about how I can get this GPS to jump to the next waypoint automatically (based on distance or anything) when I’m following a route using the “Compass Page”?

On pg 25, it says "press menu twice > routes, select a saved route > navigate".

On pg. 26, it looks like you only have the "manual" or "distance" options.

This is pretty much how mine works, but it has a third option "auto".

"Distance" would probably work - you could put in .3 miles and when you come within .3 miles of the current waypoint it would automatically do a find on the next waypoint.

Dunno what it shows on the compass page. I think it's meant to work with the map page.

-Lisa

Hi, Greg... I'll definitely give it a try again. I tried the same walking thing (also with a dog) but never got it to work. I'm sure I screwed it up somehow, it seems simple when you describe it, and that's how I thought it would work but was unsuccessful. I figured I just misunderstood the feature completely. Now I know better, thanks.

Lisa

Hi, Greg, thanks! That's very helpful.

I tried to get my device to move automatically from one route leg to the next and never got it to work. Is there a trick to it? I tried setting "route leg transition" to auto, then tried again with "distance" set to .1 mile (and some bigger values). Was surprised that it never transitioned, but kept doing a find on the first point. User error, no doubt, but if you can set me straight I'd be grateful.

I admit it was a long time ago that I tried it, maybe I just need to try it again now that I've gotten better with the device.

-Lisa

That got a lot easier - found kml2gpx.com. In Google Earth, I created a track and waypoint, like this. I put the track and waypoint into a folder on Google Earth, then extracted that folder (right click, save place as...) as a .kml file. Then, using kml2gpx.com, I converted it to a .gpx file. Now I can load the .gpx file into MapSource, and from there it can go down to the GPS.

The track editing tools in Google Earth are a little fussy, but it's doable. There is an "add path" button at the top of the screen that will let you draw a line. While the "properties" box is up, you can edit the points. Nudging will move a point. Right clicking will delete a point (the trick is to left click on the point you want to remove first). If you want to add points you need to click on a point before the point you want to add, then click on the line where you want the new point.

Downloading a buncha marine charts now (so between $ for those and an expandable micro SD card - about doubles the price...quite a scheme) and we'll see how this goes...whether or not Ft Gorges is "discovered" on there.

Ouch - probably useful anyway, but I hope my being tardy in posting didn't cost you extra bucks! -Lisa

Your GPS should be able to place you with an accuracy of 10-15 ft. On the water you should do very well as there are few obstructions to multiple satellites. In urban environments the buildings get in the way and most of today's systems use accelerometers and dead reckon with similar accuracy, though the accuracy will tend to degrade without access to the satellites now and then.

Yeah, the problem is more with the maps than with the GPS.

Hi, Rick,

I use my GPS (Garmin 60CSx) for racing. Some of what has been said works, but is too slow for racing. You need something that doesn't require hands :-)

I've never used an eTrex, but I've looked at documentation before to answer questions. Can't tell you in detail, but I'm going to assume that the software is similar to mine, but the screen is smaller. I think that's more or less the case.

Some people have suggested waypoints. Yes, but the thing is, I don't think it will automatically determine that you have passed a waypoint then point you to the next one. So it doesn't work for racing. You're not going to stop and tell it to find the next waypoint.

What I do in the Blackburn Challenge is put in ONE waypoint, at the endpoint of the longest straight leg of the race, and do a FIND on that. I also have loaded into the device a TRACK for the race. I use one from a previous circumnav, so I don't have to worry about map inaccuracies. I like to first edit the track on my computer to remove extra points from the straightaways to save space and to make straight lines where I want straight lines, but it isn't necessary.

The TRACK shows as a curved green line going around the whole course. The FIND shows as a purple line pointing straight at the waypoint.

If I did a race where I had no previous track, I would create the track and the waypoint using Google Earth rather than the Garmin map. The Garmin map I have is not very accurate. Getting from Google Earth into the Garmin requires some cursing, but it can be done. I haven't done it in a while. It required some converters that I found free online. Ask me if you need to do this...

Before the race, I set the zoom level on the map page to something that will work - too far out and you can't see the track if you wander a little, too far in and you can't see any landmarks on the map. Practice it ahead of time and remember the zoom level number.

During the race, if it's foggy, I put up the map page, set to "track up" (not "track north"). As I said, the TRACK shows as a curved green line going around the whole course. The FIND shows as a purple line pointing straight at the waypoint. At the start of the race, the FIND line is not useful yet - it points off to the side at the waypoint. Instead, I point my boat so that the current section of the TRACK on the map points to the top of the screen, and navigate that way. Later, when I start on the longest leg of the race I can look at the FIND line rather than the track. The FIND is better because you always get a pointer from where you are. The problem with the TRACK is that if you get far enough off it it won't show on the map any more. But it's way better than nothing.

In a fog, I look at the map A LOT, to keep on the track. If you lose it, you have to stop and zoom out to figure out whether you need to turn left or right to get back onto the track.

As you may remember from a previous thread, the whole map, track, and waypoint are oriented on the screen relative to your movement, not to how you are pointing. So you can follow the track with confidence in a crosswind or current - it will be giving you the right ferry angle.

Note that if you have preloaded a track, you don't need much map detail. Less is better or the screen gets cluttered. However, you should be able to see the islands. I am using the map TOPO US 2008. This is not a marine chart, but it shows more detail than your default maps. If that isn't enough, you need to buy different maps. Sometimes it has the island but no name for it. You can put waypoints on unnamed islands ahead of time - the names will show up on your map as you paddle.

If the screen on your eTrex is too small to do all of this, and you have an after market dashboard mounted Garmin GPS in your car, you can try to get that to do the job (in a dry case of course). It can probably be set to "off road", and it can probably use the MapSource Trip and Waypoint Manager software that you use to download the track and the waypoint. OK, I admit I never tried this, but I certainly would if I needed something to work with for the next race.

Some general opinions about using a GPS while kayaking:

• As Leon says (or meant to say), if you have a MAGNETIC compass, disable it. I don't think your model does. It probably has a compass page which just shows what direction you are traveling in by taking the difference between your last position a second ago and your position now, and displaying it graphically as though it were a compass. I don't think that's useful. I think if you want a compass on your boat you should have an actual compass.
• My device can show 1, 2, or 3 data fields on the map page. I usually set it up to show speed and trip odometer.
• In my opinion, the only two useful pages are the map and trip computer. Tracks page is useful to manage tracks (delete old ones, etc.), but not while paddling.
• I have given all these notes about Garmin - for all I know all these things are also possible with other brands but I've never tried.

I haven't taken the time to look up the pages that your device can show, and whether you can disable them, etc., the way you can with mine. I'm sure you can experiment with it and extrapolate...

Hope that helps,

Lisa