Sunday, June 3, 2007

Rondout Creek Anchorage, a lovely spot


Click on the title to go to the Mapquest map of our anchorage spot. It is very exact!

Technology can be so cool!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

D,K&H:

Now that you are into the trip, tell me what you are using for navigation. Magnetic compass, GPS, chart plotter, book charts, tide tables, electronic versions of some or all?

What is working and what could you have left behind?

Norm

Winnie W. said...

REPLY TO NAVIGATION COMMENT:

We use an old-fashioned magnetic compass, depth sounder, chart books (Richardson's and Maptech), Reed's Almanac for various tables, a non-mapping GPS, and radar.

Hard to say what's the most useful since it depends on the situation: in busy harbors we use the radar to pick up ship traffic, it will also show us distance & relative bearing to landmarks and help to place us on the chart.

Much of the time we are running in shallow water and I watch the depthsounder constantly. The depthsounder & compass can be used to keep a good plot of position on the chart, too.

We brought a large bundle of traditional paper charts and have not used them at all. It would be nice to have a mapping GPS but if I had to pick between that and a recording/plotting depthsounder, I'd take the depthsounder.

Thanks for the comment, hope this is a good answer.

Doug

Anonymous said...

Why does Mapquest show you parked on a street?

I mean that's cool and all - very capable boat, but still? :>)

Anonymous said...

Do you use your laptop as a chart plotter? If not, it is a really easy (and relatively inexpensive) way to have the benefits of a mapping GPS. The electronic BSB charts are all free now. I use Maptech Offshore Navigator because I like the route planning and trip tracking functions but there are other choices. Any inexpensive GPS with data output will suffice.

Winnie W. said...

Street parking is much cheaper than a marina, and you don't have to worry about the anchor dragging.

Umm, seriously, zoom in more. Shows where we anchored almost to the inch! Even better, there is a very scenice shipwreck in the little creek behind the island. Downside: Conrail runs trains across the bridge late at night.

About the GPS/laptop combo.... yes it's great & cost-effective, no we don't use it. Doug is not adept enough with the computer to use it easily & efficiently, and feels that underway in an unfamiliar area is not the place to practice.

'Winnie W.'