On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 14:55:42 +0000 (UTC), Drew Cutter
wrote:

The situation Galen describe is what I'm talking about. I've look at
garmin 478c xm wx satellite weather / gps vs xxxx . How to mount this is
another thing , with not interfering with my paddling. I want to know
how severe the storm is going to be when its hits where I'm located. I
could be on the very edge of the storm where it wouldn't be so bad. Just
because I know a storm is coming is not going to tell me what to
prepare for.

I had a Garmin mounted with the "car mounting kit" on the floor of my kayak
between my legs. It was neat for the speed, mapping features and the like.
Of course, this only works on fla****er when not wearing a sprayskirt. On
this model, you are going to have to use an external antenna to get the
weather stuff, and I'm rather doubtful the connection between the external
antenna can be made weatherproof enough to survive an external mounting
while preserving its portability. While it does seem like a good idea at
first, I think when you need it most in a kayak it might be at its most
undependable.

Should I head to the edge of storm or seek land fall for protection from
the storm ????? or just paddle through it .

As far as I'm concerned, if it looks stormy, I'm not going. I'm not called
Chicken of the Sea for nothing. I've spent too many days and nights on a
sailboat wishing fervently I was safe and warm on land. I can't remember
too many times I've been safe and warm wishing I was cold and wet.

I don't know how familiar you are with radar displays of storms. I'm not
sure what is available thru the XM service that goes with the Garmin. The
predictability of storms thru use of radar, either base reflectivity or
some kind of composite, even using various elevation angles, is tenuous at
best. Even though the provider may call it "real time," images are quite
often 5-10 minutes delayed, and only updated every 3 minutes or so. It's
really, really hard to get images any faster than that without having your
own radar. Speaking of which, my brother is a pilot for one of those
corporate jets which actually does have it's own radar. Those radars are
kind of neat, he says, but even so he doesn't use them to try to find a
route through the storms, he'd much rather go over them or around them.
And that's at speeds of 400 knots or so, you don't have a prayer at kayak
speeds.

Face it, your best bet is to get a view of the general weather in the area,
the movement of fronts and such. Then keep an eye to the sky (and maybe to
a barometer) and at the first indication that you are at all uncomfortable
with the conditions, head for shore.

Galen Hekhuis NpD, JFR, GWA
Guns don't kill people, religions do