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Date Posted: 16:02:25 10/12/08 Sun
Author: Laura
Subject: Re: Slight Correction...
In reply to: Ari 's message, "Re: Slight Correction..." on 12:34:30 10/08/08 Wed

2 cents on the topic:

Redundancy is the cruising sailors best friend as well has enemy. On board I use paper charts but use a GPS. I would like to have two GPSs next time around. I also carry a sextant and like to practice when under way. This plan is not fail safe.

Story: In the Sea of Cortez I got caught in a nasty Northerly and lost my chart to a bevy of salt water that sprayed into the cabin which desitigrated the chart in short order. I had a perfect GPS fix at all times which I could not plot. I used a crazy hand drawn chart using old waypoints to keep a vague picture in my mind of where I was.

Story: When cruising aboard my old boat I ran out of pencils and was unable to obtain more for a long time. Now, on board Andunge, I carry around 50 type 2 Ticonderogas as well as 2 mechanical pencils with hundreds of lead back ups and erasers. You never know what your break down will be so it pays to try to think of everything.

Story: The last survey that the Mexican government did of the coast line was back in the late 1800's I believe and their charts are anything but reliable. It is like this many places in the world so never take charted information as the gospel and use your senses and your smarts to assess what is best for you, your boat, your crew.

Even if you could think of everything limited space, limited funds, limited time to maintain, or limited knowledge to actually take advantage of, would probably prevent having it all.

In regards to the aforementioned depth sounder advertised at West Marine vs. a lead line: For months aboard Andung in Mexico I singlehanded engineless. I carried only a lead line for depth. The idea was to use it when I could not see bottom so I could use an appropriate amount of scope to be as safe as possible. In practice it did not work that way. Coming into an anchorage you are unfamiliar with singlehanded while under sail in order to come to your place of anchor as well as be able to set the anchor fast is very precarious. Even if I could see the bottom it is hard to gauge the depth in clear water and I would try to maintain a decent speed (at least 2 knots) in order to get the anchor to set. Not to mention trying to steer the boat and work the sails at the same time as setting the anchor. The lead line was too consuming (both of time and use of my hands) to use realistically resulting in some close calls of sailing up on shore when I did not get enough chain down in time to set before coming in too shallow. I called my parents and had them mail me out the aforementioned depth reader. Now, I can get a quick reading and tend to other tasks and I did not have to put in a throughhull for a transducer. That little handheld depth reader also came in very handy in murky water after a hurricane while trying to get a boat that had come aground off the shore. We had a lot of man power and several dingys with motors but we had to get her healed over enough to free her keel from the muck and the little depth reader was really handy for coordinating that.

It is easy to poo poo things when you see them at an establishment like West Marine and consider yourself hardcore but take it from me, use what is offered to make things easier on yourself but be prepared to go without if you don't have it for one reason or another. Just don't go doing things beyond your ability just because you have a device to carry the weight for you.

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