kayak compass

Strange…
I have used my compass MOST OFTEN while in teh Chesapeake Bay area.



Jim

It’s hard for me to accept that
fog is never an issue on the Chesapeake Bay.



Not taking a compass is about as smart as keeping your PFD stashed in a hatch so you can get to it when you need it.

a newbie
Has no business taking on that challenge in the first place.



Sucks for the person making that crossing with GPS only when the batteries quit.



If I were making such a crossing I would have all tools at my disposal instead of poo-pooing a compass.

pocket compass with sighting mirror.
I’m old and new school, without much schooling. Taking a two day nav class this weekend though, one day classroom, one day on the water.



I’m curious how many of you carry a pocket compass with a sighting mirror. Do you use the sighting mirror on the water? Mirror can double as a signal mirror too of course. From reading I like the Silva Guide 426. http://www.rei.com/product/408185?vcat=REI_SEARCH

Comments?



Paul

I didn’t say I only use one GPS
I use a Map 76 with a Etrex as a back up.

I always have the chart of the particular area I am navigating to with me, and I keep a stash of batteries in a baggie which is in a dry bag.

IMHO any one who relies on a compass in this day and age for navigation is behind times.



Cheers,

JackL



PS: I have to admit that I still love working off the charts the old school way prior to a paddle to obtain the coordinates I need even though It can be done in a matter of minutes on the computer program.


Yes and no
I have a deck mount (Nexus) in teh front hatch of my QCC. I also have a Silva sighting compass in my PFD pocket. Honestly, I do little sighting with it - you would probably be better served by a Silva Explorer baseplate model which would be better for chart plotting.



Jim

fog is an issue
on Chesapeake Bay - especially fall mornings. I don’t think you belong on open water in fog with or without compass & GPS. I’m more concerned about being visible to other boaters in fog - especially those using high HP. Not to mention that seaplane practicing landings in the fog - yikes. There are enough quiet creeks that we paddlers have all to ourselves when conditions keep us off open water, IMO.



I do use a compass often on my center console fishing boat - there I’m mostly concerned about plotting courses to burn less fuel. But I enjoy paddling & don’t need to conserve paddle strokes.

It depends
The CB is probably much more crowded than the Pacific Ocean, where I paddle. But we still have to enter harbor entrances unless we want to do a surf landing when we can’t see where we’re landing.



I don’t know about your weather, but paddling in fog can sometimes be unavoidable out here. I have seen the fog come in very quickly and things have gone from bright sunny unlimited visibility to a thick pea soup in a very short period of time.



If you’re several miles from shore or your destination, you’d better have at least a compass and the knowledge of how to use it to get back.

Having been into boating for years
I started with loran and switched to gps. At all times in my kayak if I am doing any open water crossings I carry spare batteries and a COMPASS and chart for that area. I also have anyther gps because my wife has one and I never paddle without her. I have never needed my compass but it is with me if the need ever comes up.

What do you do
if you need a compass because the fog came in and your gps craps out ,or you drop it into the drink ? What do you do if the satellite goes kaput or a storm or a solar flare blocks the signal, or the batteries go dead and it’s way past your suppertime ? Remember your Boyscout motto ? BE PREPAIRED ! Old style instruments are good. But however I draw the line at packing a sextant in my fanny pack!

Let’s see…
I can factor in drift for wind, current and following seas, so the island in the distance excuse doesn’t work. It doesn’t need batteries. I can see it in strong sunlight. It won’t wash off my deck. It won’t get greenhoused to death. It won’t underwhelm it’s “submersibility” rating. It never needs batteries. It doesn’t ask me for $29.95 a year to upgrade its mapping whose files may not work with your system when you get it, (naval architect buddy’s latest complaints). Don’t have to look at my lap or just in front of my spray deck to see where I’m going. I know where the set of the current is going. I can lay off a range or plot a course easily enough with some 9th grade reading skills. It won’t run out of batteries. I can say 0-9-0 for a group paddling course. I can add a small glowstick and see it at night really well. I can take a range off a ship to see its heading. I can take 2 or 3 ranges to see exactly where I’m at. I can add my wristwatch and understanding of relative speed to ded rek. Really, pretty useful device that won’t run out of batteries and it’s Al Gore approved carbon neutral.



Augustus Dogmaticus

MMVII

2nd that
I completely agree. Cheap insurance. Sometimes I think the compass-deficient are intimidated of learning how to navigate with them, but it’s pretty basic stuff.

9th grade reading skills, a half hour…
away from Sex in the City reruns every so often and viola(!) a navigator is born. Either that or dread thy batteries, matey.



Dogmaticus

rickers is the what do you do was meant
for me, reread my post.

cheap compass
On my canoes I stick one of these $1.98 ball compasses the sell for cars in a visible protected place.They work great to tell general direction without bringing out my precision sighting compass(which I also take)

Turtle

that was funny

both - from personal experience
a few years ago, myself and mr airwave were paddling from grand island, back to pictured rocks, from whence we came. I luckily had the foresight to save a waypoint on my gps before we left miner’s beach, on our way out. If you’ve ever been to pic’d rocks, you know that there are very few places to launch/land, the rest being 50+foot sheer sandstone cliffs, riddled with sea-caves. Anyhow - before leaving grand island for the 3+mile paddle back to the mainland, I again had the foresight to use the goto function on the GPS to determine the bearing back to the beach from which we launched, a couple days prior. 87degrees, A number which I’m not likely to ever forget. Less than a mile offshore, a typical lake superior storm rolled in, complete with thunder, lightning and sideways rain. In 10 minutes the weather went from snotty overcast to howling screaming banshee. Looking ahead to the mainland, all I could see was a sheer wall of brown cliff (with our itty bitty beach somewhere in there). Both of us were very fatigued from a 25+mile day prior, and paddled like hell on the 87deg bearing.Which we were able to follow, using our compasses - no way in hell would I have been able to take my hands off the paddle to retrieve the gps from my pdf, take my eyes off the destination, and read the gps. Not with every third stroke being a brace, water washing over the deck and wind that wanted to push me out to see. Its a nice feeling to hit your target dead-ass on, even nicer when there is absolutely no alternative.


Bmach1
I wrote my reply as you were posting yours. I.m a bit too late on the draw I guess.

rickers no probem it doeshappen.
messes

similar story
friends of mine travelled the Sahara with 4x4s in 1990. They mostly zigzagged the Lybian border (illegally) using only GPS as means of navigation.

And got hopelessly lost for a week when the US Government decided to switch of the satellite system for a few days.

Back home they took a few old school navigation

classes and learned how to do it the without electronics…