Now I know what happened to Skip. Get a copy of "Wreckers Key" by
Christine Kling and see what happens to people in the Florida Keys who
rely on too much on GPS for navigation.
Sparkie

On Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:00:02 -0500, krj
wrote:

Now I know what happened to Skip. Get a copy of "Wreckers Key" by
Christine Kling and see what happens to people in the Florida Keys who
rely on too much on GPS for navigation.

Trust me on this one, there is no problem with GPS in the Keys.

You do have to know what you are doing however.

It's not the GPS that's the problem, but the inaccurate charts. I have used my
GPS
to enter some very narrow channels in the 'backcountry' of the lower keys, but I

had to keep a sharp lookout for changes in the channels due to hurricanes, tidal

currents, etc.

Sherwin D.

"Wayne.B" wrote:

On Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:00:02 -0500, krj
wrote:

Now I know what happened to Skip. Get a copy of "Wreckers Key" by
Christine Kling and see what happens to people in the Florida Keys who
rely on too much on GPS for navigation.

Trust me on this one, there is no problem with GPS in the Keys.

You do have to know what you are doing however.

"sherwindu" wrote in message
...
It's not the GPS that's the problem, but the inaccurate charts. I
have used my
GPS
to enter some very narrow channels in the 'backcountry' of the lower
keys, but I

had to keep a sharp lookout for changes in the channels due to
hurricanes, tidal

currents, etc.

Sherwin D.

"Wayne.B" wrote:

On Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:00:02 -0500, krj
wrote:

Now I know what happened to Skip. Get a copy of "Wreckers Key" by
Christine Kling and see what happens to people in the Florida Keys
who
rely on too much on GPS for navigation.

Trust me on this one, there is no problem with GPS in the Keys.

You do have to know what you are doing however.


Q: Do you know what they call boaters who use only GPS for navigating
the Keys waters?

A: Aground!

The Keys are like the Bahamas. You must learn how to read depth from
water color.

I'm Ted Bell!

Your a better sailor than me. When you have a tidal current churning up a muddy

bottom, or it's getting too dark to read the bottom, etc., the GPS can provide a

backup to your depth sounder. Ever try to get into the backside of Islamorada
at
the wrong time of day, where you can't read the water? If you have reliable way

points for these tricky channels, I say go ahead and use them.

Sherwin D.

Ted Bell wrote:

"sherwindu" wrote in message
...
It's not the GPS that's the problem, but the inaccurate charts. I
have used my
GPS
to enter some very narrow channels in the 'backcountry' of the lower
keys, but I

had to keep a sharp lookout for changes in the channels due to
hurricanes, tidal

currents, etc.

Sherwin D.

"Wayne.B" wrote:

On Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:00:02 -0500, krj
wrote:

Now I know what happened to Skip. Get a copy of "Wreckers Key" by
Christine Kling and see what happens to people in the Florida Keys
who
rely on too much on GPS for navigation.

Trust me on this one, there is no problem with GPS in the Keys.

You do have to know what you are doing however.

Q: Do you know what they call boaters who use only GPS for navigating
the Keys waters?

A: Aground!

The Keys are like the Bahamas. You must learn how to read depth from
water color.

I'm Ted Bell!

On Fri, 09 Mar 2007 00:31:50 -0600, sherwindu
wrote:

If you have reliable way

points for these tricky channels, I say go ahead and use them.

Absolutely, the key (no pun intended) is reliable waypoints. The
original poster implied that GPS is unreliable in the Keys. It's not.
The charts are another story altogether although I've found no major
issues with the deep water/well traveled areas.

The real fun starts further north around Cape Sable, Little Shark
River and the Everglades. I've got any number of GPS tracks showing
the boat going over dry land, and haved bumped bottom in allegedly
deep water.

One method is to register your own way points on frequently used channels, when
the water is easily read. Unless the channel shifts, those can be the most
dependable.

Sherwin D.

"Wayne.B" wrote:

On Fri, 09 Mar 2007 00:31:50 -0600, sherwindu
wrote:

If you have reliable way

points for these tricky channels, I say go ahead and use them.

Absolutely, the key (no pun intended) is reliable waypoints. The
original poster implied that GPS is unreliable in the Keys. It's not.
The charts are another story altogether although I've found no major
issues with the deep water/well traveled areas.

The real fun starts further north around Cape Sable, Little Shark
River and the Everglades. I've got any number of GPS tracks showing
the boat going over dry land, and haved bumped bottom in allegedly
deep water.