Sure I always carry one, though I rarely use it anymore since I’ve mostly been paddling rivers for quite a while. They’re not as useful when you’re obliged to go where the river goes anyhow… but back when I used to paddle lakes, particularly lakes where there were portage trails on the other side or at the other end of a crooked lake, when the distant shore had islands or peninsulas that might hide the entrance to a trail - and from which one would need to find your way back. Absolutely take a compass. There’s no substitute. In BWCA-type paddling they’re indispensable IMHO. I know a lot of folks like their GPSs, and they are also very handy things for determining speed, but anything with a battery can let you down. Anything that can be flooded out or damaged by accidental impact can let you down when canoeing and/or camping. And a GPS is an expensive thing. A compass is cheap and it always works. I just place it on the pack in front of my paddling position and usually have a map inside that pack in case I want to take a heading to a bluff or some other landmark. Last time I employed one of necessity was on a night paddle where I couldn’t see my destination which was on the other side of a narrows on a bay and from which I needed to relocate my launch point. I could have followed the shore, but that would have probably quadrupled the distance. A “blind” night crossing really requires something, and a compass has been the answer for that situation for centuries.
@SharpsRifle said:
One of the problems with GPS navigation is that even though it knows exactly where you are and exactly where you are going, it has a harder time orienting you when you move so slowly.
I know. But I will not blame my incident on the GPS data. Those were actually okay.
This was purely a matter of how I had chosen that data should be presented on screen (several screens auto-rolling through different information, so my Course Over Ground was only being shown every once in a while), and how I interpreted those data when I saw them (correcting in the wrong direction, because I was so used to looking at a deck compass).
My main point here is that a compass is not only less prone to failure - it is also more idiot proof.
Yes, I sometimes carry a compass when paddling and hiking. Yes, I have also needed it. However, I don’t normally carry one when paddling now that we only have inland reservoirs to paddle. We don’t get fog here.
Don’t forget tide charts if using a compass in salt water. Sailing, I’ve had my compass course be 25 degrees off my true course, maybe more.
I have a little compass in my kit, but I never have used it. I don’t paddle in fog and where I paddle, I always know exactly where I am. Wait, I did paddle in the fog one time on a lake and yes that was very weird, but I knew which way was north, because I knew there was a highway north of me and I could hear the cars on the highway. The biggest hazard was bass fishermen zooming about in their rocket boats. The fog soon lifted and all was well.
@daggermat said:
Don’t forget tide charts if using a compass in salt water. Sailing, I’ve had my compass course be 25 degrees off my true course, maybe more.
Appropriate maps are always important when we leave civilization and head out. Nautical charts can be very important to kayakers in a situation like you’re talking about. If you had currents that were taking a sailboat off course by over 25 degrees, then those are probably currents I would try and avoid in a kayak.
It does bring up something though. Knowing how to read the nautical charts is important.
Knowing when you look at a chart, how to plan appropriately based on potential power boat traffic ranging from car carrying ships to 15’ bayliners with drunk weekend warriors at the helm, to currents with the tides and wind exposure. You also need to look at where you can be at what part of the tide.
The nautical charts need looked at a little differently than a regular map and aren’t much good without learning them.
On the use of charts, in an unfamiliar area it is a good idea to have topo for adjacent land areas as well. They tend to show more useful elevation features than a nautical chart necessarily does.
On being diverted by current, similar issue paddling across a river mouth combined with tide charts. There can be a considerable diversion trying to cross one for home . It doesn’t matter in clear weather. In fog you needs to know to aim a little higher or lower to account for the more active part of the tide.
The final thing on printed charts (or older GPS data) is to be aware of currency. We were out one time with someone who wished to aim for a particular numbered buoy which made no sense against the apparent lay of the channel that we could see. Turns out they were working with an older chart and the buoys had been renumbered since that printing. It was not a big deal in clear weather because we could see where the channel was. But in pea soup fog that error could put you in very much the wrong place.
@Allan Olesen said:
@JackL said:
Prior to my GPS days I always took one, but now with the GPS there is no need for oneEarlier this year I ran into fog. I have two kayaks with deck compass and one without. This was the one without. I did have a compass in my PFD, but I didn’t bother taking it out because I had a GPS on the deck.
I ended up crossing a busy shipping lane without knowing it until I suddenly saw a green buoy while still thinking I was following the line of red buoys at the other side of the lane. When trying to get back on track, I actually ended up doing a full circle.
You can of course say that I just doesn’t know how to use a GPS. Part of that is true - I did not have the optimal screen setup for fog navigation, and at some point I actually realized that I corrected opposite of what I should have done. But you could probably say the same about other people who rely on a GPS in such situations.
(On the other hand, Freya Hoffmeister never brings a compass. She solely rely on GPS (multiple GPSs, actually). She has succeeded in circumnavigating 2 continents, and one must assume that she ran into some fog every now and then.)
If you followed your GPS tracks back, you must have crossed the shipping lane before you decided to turn around in the fog
There are good GPS’s and cheap ones. If you have a good one with maps, you should have seen the shipping lane markers on the GPS Chart
In a Pea soup fog, I’ll take a good GPS over a compass any day.
I gave my good compass away many years ago
@JackL said:
In a Pea soup fog, I’ll take a good GPS over a compass any day.
I gave my good compass away many years ago
Really both is the best answer but for my money it’s hard to beat the low tech answer of a compass. No batteries or other anomalies that mess with you as long as you don’t pack your boat with the cast iron skillet to close to the compass.
Of course having a compass instead of a GPS only works if you know what heading you need which probably means having maps.
When you come onto a dolphin or buoy in the fog you haven’t learned much about how to get where you’re going without a map.
The nice thing about GPS is when someone goes out without paying enough attention to things like headings, it doesn’t care. You just have to know how to tell it where you want to be.
Weather turns and you didn’t bring a map or compass? Maybe did some wandering without paying a lot of attention to your route and can’t find your way back in the fog? GPS doesn’t care.
One caviat about handheld compasses; the magnetization of the needle can be reversed by a physical shock. I had one that did that. It shouldn’t have happened, and is probably very unlikely in new high-quality models. The one that did that was older, with just a needle-pivot and not liquid-filled. It had the little locking lever, intended to be used to hold the needle from swinging, and I had that engaged whenever I wasn’t using it, which is NOT what it’s for. So, I think that having the needle locked in place at the time of whatever bump it got had something to do with it going backwards on me.
I got one of the little eyeball jobs once and removed its safety pin and glued it into the top of a walking stick. Perfect.
@daggermat said:
Don’t forget tide charts if using a compass in salt water. Sailing, I’ve had my compass course be 25 degrees off my true course, maybe more.
In fog, you shouldn’t worry about being 25 degrees wrong.
You should worry about being 180 degrees wrong. It will happen faster than you think.
Compass is my go to in Maine. Fog is a guaranteed. Why not GPS? Because I can set a bearing on the chart for my destination and break it up into very short segments; the distance I can see in the fog. Sometimes its 50 feet sometimes it is more… In most areas within that limited range of visibility you can find a lobster buoy on your line of desired travel… Go for it… Focus on it now not the compass( there will be drift)… Make sure you recenter your aim for the next lobster buoy you can see. We came in all the way from Isle Au Haut to Stonington using this meth
I am not anti GPS at all but there are times when a battery failure would be very very bad. And the compass always will get you to shore moving or not. That is if you preplan a safety bearing. In Maine that is pretty much 344-346
Safety bearings are always good to have. Those are the thing that points you to a safe egress from your trip. Here is a calculator
@greyheron said:
One caviat about handheld compasses; the magnetization of the needle can be reversed by a physical shock. I had one that did that. It shouldn’t have happened, and is probably very unlikely in new high-quality models. The one that did that was older, with just a needle-pivot and not liquid-filled. It had the little locking lever, intended to be used to hold the needle from swinging, and I had that engaged whenever I wasn’t using it, which is NOT what it’s for. So, I think that having the needle locked in place at the time of whatever bump it got had something to do with it going backwards on me.I got one of the little eyeball jobs once and removed its safety pin and glued it into the top of a walking stick. Perfect.
Well actually the lever that holds the needle is for use during transport. It was probably a high end jeweled needle. I am a land surveyor and back in the pre electronic days most of our instruments had compasses mounted to them with that lever, and staff compasses used in timber surveys have a lock for the needle like that.
In all my years of working around compasses I have never heard of one having the polarity reversed by a physical shock, and can’t imagine how jarring something could reverse the polarity of it? We’re talking about an atomic level of change based on electronic charge. Are you sure you didn’t just have it stored near a strong magnet or something else electronic that changed the polarity?
One xmas morning a small group of us set of for a very familiar paddle. It was a little hazy but once we were a few hundred yards out we lost all sight of land. We looked at each other to see who brought a compass as we were not expecting fog in the Keys. I was a beautiful and interesting paddle. We could hear dolphins swimming around us but could not see them.
@grayhawk said:
One xmas morning a small group of us set of for a very familiar paddle. It was a little hazy but once we were a few hundred yards out we lost all sight of land. We looked at each other to see who brought a compass as we were not expecting fog in the Keys. I was a beautiful and interesting paddle. We could hear dolphins swimming around us but could not see them
Morning in Florida you were probably able to see the glow of the sun through the fog and orient that way at least. It would still be an uncomfortable feeling being out there without visibility or a compass. I also worry about who can’t see me in those conditions.
On a boat, at night, fog too thick to see the bow let alone have a clear view of the stars. That’s spooky stuff right there! Only had that happen one time on a motorized boat while working. We made it back to port looking at the glow of the moon through the fog. Pre GPS days. Really should have had a backup compass on that boat. Even a handheld.
If you can find Polaris, you can determine declination in the field.
If you can see the fog approaching and get a compass mark…it doesn’t mater what the declination is.
declination only matters if you are trying to orient a map…
If you had a proper equipped Valley kayak you would be set.
They just don’t look right if the compass detent is not filled in.
@greyheron said:
I got one of the little eyeball jobs once and removed its safety pin and glued it into the top of a walking stick. Perfect.
That’s a neat idea.
@Allan Olesen said:
In fog, you shouldn’t worry about being 25 degrees wrong.You should worry about being 180 degrees wrong. It will happen faster than you think.
Exactly. In fog, or hiking, or anywhere where you might get disoriented. Just this summer I went way off into some flooded areas off a local river and although not life threatening I had some anxiety and had to poke around a bit before finding my way back to the river.