Tim Diebert Posted December 30, 2004 Posted December 30, 2004 I have wanted to get a good solid bit of info on navigation. Too lazy to buy a book. I bought myself a nice little waterproof gps for a Winter Solstice present (a Garmin eTrex) and wanted to understand a few things a lot better. So if any of you folks are like me, you might like this page I found. It is actually in lesson format and is very clear and thourough...meant for grade 6-8 students...so it is perfect for the likes of myself. It is quite vast but is presented in pdf format so you can print them out or just read from the web. Cheers, TT. http://www.ion.org/satdiv/education.cfm Quote
barnacle5 Posted December 30, 2004 Posted December 30, 2004 I have found it helpful to just know what body of water I am sailing on. find someone with a chart and gps and just follow them. just what I do. Bill Quote
Tim Diebert Posted December 30, 2004 Author Posted December 30, 2004 ...hehehehe. On the water I have always used dead reckoning and a chart/compass. That's fine during the daylight hours or good weather. Having just acquired the gps kind of opened up my mind to another world of info. Quote
Craig Posted December 30, 2004 Posted December 30, 2004 All I ever have to do in case of navigation trouble is to turn North! Quote
Tim Diebert Posted December 30, 2004 Author Posted December 30, 2004 All I ever have to do in case of navigation trouble is to turn North! HA! I guess so....a pretty well idiot proof plan I would say.....as long as you have a compass....and there are no obstacles(sand bars or reefs or rocks) between where you are and where you need to get to. Hahaha Quote
Craig Posted December 31, 2004 Posted December 31, 2004 Rocks in N Florida? Sand bars yes but no rocks or reefs up here Tim. Just pure white sand. Day time you can see the land to north, at night it is where the lights are, and in fog stay put or stay home. Prevailing winds are westerly or from the southwest so it is as simple as turning north. Kids, don't try this off shore. Quote
barnacle5 Posted December 31, 2004 Posted December 31, 2004 I love sailing that aera! how is it recovering after the storms? I have been wanting to get down there all year. guess it is not going to happen now until 05 unless I am abducted by aliens with a yearn for sailing in the new year. ( extraterrestrials not haitians or cubans and no offense given ) . we had Ice and snow all week. it got up into the 60's here yeasterday and will climb to near 70 ys 70 degrees today. this is december the 31st right? go figure. I gave booger a ride up and down the drive in his hack as a treat. we didn't go onto the paved surfaces because of all the salt they spread AFTER the ice and snow melted. go figure. that is what they do around here. it will sure eat a bike up pronto though. if I am lake sailing I hardly ever take a compass. use landmarks and bouys during the daytime. lay and look at the stars at anchor at night while sipping a little wine cooler and read a good book or just listen to the sounds of the night time on the water. anyeay I am on a lake. if I get lost people usually tell me where to go. somtimes they even tell me that when I am not lost and or not on the water. am I blessed or what? some of you guys need to come to KY lake for a sail this summer. when the wind is out of the west you can sail 40 miles up and down the lake on a beam reach and there are some of the best places to eat there I have ever had the pleasure of partaking and the ramp launching and parking are free. ( at least the last time I was there they were) if this weather holds I will be sailing in january so the winter covers are coming off the boat. as always the best to all. practice up on that GPS. I am following you. barnacle bill Quote
Tim Diebert Posted December 31, 2004 Author Posted December 31, 2004 Bill: Your lake sounds awesome. 40 miles with interesting stops along the way. Wicked. My lake (I allow others to use it ....lol) is 20 miles long and surrounded by high mountains on all sides. There are lots of summer homes on the south end (access by road) and the north end is pretty wild. The only commercial place to stop is a small marina...that doesn't even sell beer. I don't need to navigate in any way on this lake...lol. The wind only blows from the north or south and the lake runs due north and south. So consequently you can either tack up or down the lake or run downwind. In a way, I look at this lake as kind of a big wide river without a current. It can be pretty boring at times....but it is all I have that is close to home. I can be at the launch ramp from my back yard in 20 minutes. I have quite a few very large lakes close to me, but a minimum 2 hour drive over mountain passes. So it is a bit of a chore and I usually end up at my home lake. I am planning a cruise of a few days on Okanogan Lake this summer. This one is big enough to have charts and a cruising guide. There are several little and big towns along the way...and lots of nothing as well. Good camping and usually quite windy..oh, and really hot that time of the year too. Craig: I am moving to where you are. Quote
barnacle5 Posted January 1, 2005 Posted January 1, 2005 is part of the tom bigbee waterway. the actual lake is about 120 miles long but the best sailing is the northern 40 miles of the lake up near the dam. average depth is about 18 -25 ft but it can run shallow near the western shore. the water is clear . it is about a mile or more wide in places and there are sand shores or pebble rock beaches all up and down the banks which are more like beaches than river banks because of all the ground mussle shells. you will see rivermen oyster dredging along the bottom and hauling up their catch. there are different species of mussels and different regulations on their sizes that you can keep. their only value is in the shells which are sold to the asian cultured pearl market. seems a "seed" made for the mother of pearl from these shells make the best cultured pearls. I have rafted my sailboat up alongside a riverman before ( after asking permission) and talked and helped him do his trade for a little while. all are friendly and like to talk. several nice restaurants are within easy walking distance from the shore and many have their own dock to tie up to while you use their services. you can actually see a horizon on this lake. I remember sailing there in early october one year and watching a full harvest moon rise up out of the lake. it looked so huge . I'll remember it forever. I anchored in a little bay on the west side protected from the wind and well offshore. I thought of diving over the side into the cool water for it was an unusally warm night but thought better of it and took a sponge bath instead. the next morning while sitting in the cockpit drinking my coffee a bass fisherman quietly slipped by on his electric trolling motor casting into the still green willows along the shoreline . he touched the bill of his cap in respect as I waved to him in passing and I asked him the water depth as I saw him check his depth/fish finder ." two and a half feet" he said as he slipped by. good thing i didn't dive off the boat with only six inches of water under the keel. I would have still been stuck in that mud. I try to proofread and correct because i make a lot of typing errors with these bear paws I have for hands so if I miss one. just read on and forgive my mistake(s) . the best to all. barnacle bill ps. it will be in the 60's here tomorrow. if it doesn't rain and there is some wind I think me and the titmouse "scraps" is going sailing somewhere. Quote
Greg Luckett Posted January 2, 2005 Posted January 2, 2005 I have wanted to get a good solid bit of info on navigation. Too lazy to buy a book.I bought myself a nice little waterproof gps for a Winter Solstice present (a Garmin eTrex) and wanted to understand a few things a lot better. So if any of you folks are like me' date=' you might like this page I found. It is actually in lesson format and is very clear and thourough...meant for grade 6-8 students...so it is perfect for the likes of myself. It is quite vast but is presented in pdf format so you can print them out or just read from the web. Cheers, TT. [url']http://www.ion.org/satdiv/education.cfm[/url] Have you joined ION? Thanks for the link, too. Greg. Quote
Greg Luckett Posted January 2, 2005 Posted January 2, 2005 Nope.....you? No, just wondering about ION. Until that link I had no idea it even existed. Quote
Mike Pennington Posted January 3, 2005 Posted January 3, 2005 I added the site to my favorites too. Hopefully I'll get back to it and learn something. Quote
Turtle447 Posted November 24, 2010 Posted November 24, 2010 Thank you all for the ion website link! I know I will enjoy the reading and playing around with the exercises. I am currently reading "THE AMERICAN PRACTICAL NAVIGATOR, AN EPITOME OF NAVIGATION, ORIGINALLY BY NATHANIEL BOWDITCH, LL.D. 1995 EDITION". I found it posted on the web while looking for something free to read on the subject. Mother lode! It was the complete book! I wish there were more out there like this one but not many are willing to share. My one year old is crying for his bottle, so I'll cut it short for now. Once again thank you! Quote
PAR Posted November 24, 2010 Posted November 24, 2010 "How To Find Where You Are From The Sun" by George Buehler is about as simplistic as you can ask for, without a GPS. Quote
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