[Rhodes22-list] GPS, ---Ed

[Arthur H. Czerwonky]

Dan,
I'd really be interested in learning more about the transponder you refer to.  Your point is well made.  Jim White has sailed in Corpus Christi Bay and has seen the big boats up and down the channel, as I have.  Most coastal sailing has more intrigues than lake sailing.  Better to stay on top.  I will always prefer using a plotter in the Georgia isles, even on a 22' boat, and especially near the ICW.
Art

-----Original Message-----
>From: Daniel Bodnar <dsbodnar at earthlink.net>
>Sent: Feb 12, 2006 10:15 AM
>To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] GPS, ---Ed
>
>Ed,
>
>I think you are missing a point ... although I'm going to defend two.
>
>When I buy a new car, I option all the latest safety equipment, but I'm not planning for an accident.  I'm spending the bucks on all that extra equipment, so that if there is an accident, and if some one should get hurt, I will know that we had the best chance of survival available at the time. 
>
>Now I've been lucky, I've been out in fog only once, and we decided that we would go out anyway to experience it.   It was an excellent learning experience, not necessarily a good day sailing.  We took precautions,  by sailing in relatively shallow water, (an R22 advantage) to stay out of the way of faster more powerful boats.  As I said, a learning experience; which, I'm sure, will make us better prepared to handle fog when we are out on that clear sunny day in the middle of lake Erie and the fog just closes in.  At that time I will want the best equipment available, and I will want a GPS to confirm my position and help me make decisions should I be near the shipping channels.  If radar was practical on an R22, I'd have it.  However, I've just read about a radio transponder system that commercial vessels are required to use, and monitoring it with a MAPPING GPS attached, sounds like a more reliable method of identifying big ships in the area.  As I said the best equipment available. 
>
>The second point:  Boys and their toys.  Some of us take pride in our skills and accomplishments, in a minimalist fashion, and others of us get great enjoyment in pressing buttons and watching little teeny boxes do magic  that wasn't even possible with a room full of computers using Kilo-watts of power, a few short years ago.
>
>Dan Bodnar
>S/V QOL (Quality of Life) 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Tootle <ekroposki at charter.net>
>>Sent: Feb 12, 2006 9:41 AM
>>To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
>>Subject: [Rhodes22-list] GPS, Wally, Mary Lou, big spenders
>>
>>
>>     The GPS is great, but how much GPS is necessary?  Is external antenna 
>>     necessary on a Rhodes 22?  A good hand held is all that is necessary. 
>>     The big bucks some want to spend for color wide screen chartplotter is
>>utter waste. 
>>     
>>     Wally do you have a mount with external antenna for your kayak?
>>     For night sailing on Lake Hartwell we do not have one lighthouse,
>>especially 
>>     not Michael's ten lighthouses.  Shipping channels?  Yea we have a main 
>>     channel but as Rummy will tell you about an affair with the Carver,
>>they 
>>     are the ones on autopilot, not the small boats.  
>>
>>     These newbies maybe should learn their boat before they sail in fog, at
>>night 
>>      or navigate at night or potentially foul weather far from home port. 
>>By that time 
>>      the gear will be outdated. 
>>
>>      As for that Maine sailor who navigates around icebergs to his island
>>retreat, his fellow
>>      Eskimos did it in kayaks without GPS.   Maybe he should consider
>>Eskimo day camp? 
>>
>>      Those worried about getting struck need one of those radar units with
>>hazard
>>      approching warning attached to good klaxon.  You know like on a
>>submarine, dive, dive!
>>      Listen here: 
>>http://www.classic-car-accessories.co.uk/acatalog/soundtklaxonred.html
>>      (Those units are available, but might have a large battery draw, where
>>is that spread sheet.)
>>
>>Ed K
>>Greenville, SC, USA
>>
>>--
>>View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/Rhodes-22-in-fog-low-visibility-Re%3A-GPS-reply-t1104918.html#a2896741
>>Sent from the Rhodes22 forum at Nabble.com.
>>
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