After
being on life support since our annual fall trip, I finally had to euthanize my
old Garmin Etrex gps. Garmin, your
product is NOT waterproof no matter what you say. Its water resistant and the resistance was
overcome somewhere between Outer Island and
Red Cliff. A few waves breaking
over the deck, condensation inside the display, and everything went to
hell. Even a spa treatment in a nice
pail of quality rice did not revive the unit.
The new one will be in the clear bag, lesson learned. Fortunately I had a chart on my deck, the big
official NOAA chart, folded up and stuffed in a waterpro......er water
resistant map case.
The difference between the two is
that if the map got wet it might be soggy but would still be readable. Reliable redundant systems are always good.
It was
recently announced that NOAA will quit printing navigation charts this
spring. I'm sure they can be downloaded
and printed on large format printers, most likely at a cost that will exceed
the twenty bucks they charge now. If you
have the time and inclination, a company like West Marine can print it
digitally at the normal twenty buck cost and get it to you via whatever shipping
method you choose to pay for, from overnight to regular USPS mail. The graphics and print quality will be better
and it's printed on water resistant paper.
Shipping of course can equal chart cost for overnight service. On the
positive side, we can zero in on the very area we plan to paddle and probably
even print the thing on our own waterproof.....or resistant...paper at some place
like Kinkos. There are a few retail
places that don't raise my blood pressure when I enter them and the typical
marine supply store where I purchase charts is one of em. I only hope that this more complicated path
to chart procurement doesn't cause some people to just say to hell with it and
rely on the gps. That would be the path
of least resistance, excellent if you're electricity but bad if you're a
kayaker.
The end
of the litho printed charts, printed by the FAA by the way, not NOAA will be a
sad day for many of us. As a printer as
well as the owner of some small pulpwood acreage, I must disclose a vested interest in the
printed chart. I wanted my emails to have
"please print this frivolously, I got timber to sell" instead of the
usual admonition to please not print this email. Higher ups at my company thought this to be a message they did not want to send; go figure. Nonetheless we
need to keep the skill and the joy of navigation alive. A number of us took John Carmody's course at
the Gales event and it was refreshing to see the interest. Far more people in the Great Lakes region have taken John Browning's navigation course and perhaps even enjoyed a whiskey with him afterwards. For the guy who sets out for Sand Island in
his rec boat and flip flops, not having a map or gps is likely the least of his
worries. Whether the map and compass or
the aggravating electronic beeps of the gps are your prime method of knowing
where you are, just make damn sure that you have the other one for backup. Also remember the map and compass are
significantly more reliable. See
paragraph one above. Practice those
skills as well. I don't know what either
son's phone number is because I just tell Siri, the iPhone wench, to call Erik
or Ian. I do remember my grandparents
number from the 1950's however, 835-6041.
This is because I had the hands on experience of sticking my little
finger in the rotary dial and actually dialing the numbers. Keep folding those charts, sticking them in
the Sealine chart bag, and calculating those times and bearings. Not only is it fun but someday it might save
your ass.