On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:13:37 +0000 (UTC), Drew Cutter
wrote:

Looking a gps for open water sea kayaking. I'm looking at two different
gps units. One tells you that a storm is coming and other has a doppler
like radar map. Do you have to know where the storm is coming or just
that a storm is approaching ?


No. No. That's to both.

If you're not doing long multi-day trips, you don't need a storm
warning on your GPS unless you're too, uh, careless to check the
weather channels and radars before you leave the house. If the
weather looks as if a storm might be coming, don't go? The Coast
Guard appreciates that in boaters.

If you feel you must have such an addition to your GPS go for the gold
and get the one that shows the Doppler. As long as you remember that
the actual nasty weather can extend well beyond what shows on radar.
--

r.bc: vixen
Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher, etc..
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless. Really.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli

Drew Cutter wrote in :

Let say you are on your way back from a 3-5 day trip . A fast moving
storm appears that was not known before you left . For instance a
winter storm. Where I kayak often the weather person doesn't know
exactly where the storm is heading. The storm could stay along the
coast line or head out over the water or not even go over the water .
Right now is a good example , hurricane season tends to do weird
things around here . " Great Lakes". I want to be ready for those fast
moving storms that change directions.

It sounds like what you really need is a VHF radio that has coverage for the
National Weather Service channels. I've found that at least our local NWS
channel has very accurate coverage regarding the location of storm cells as
they pass through the area. VHF radios are getting quite affordable and
having the combination of a weather radio and VHF gives you the option of
being able contact someone if a storm takes an unpredictable turn and you
find yourself in trouble.

On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 12:01:15 GMT, John Fereira wrote:

Drew Cutter wrote in :

Let say you are on your way back from a 3-5 day trip . A fast moving
storm appears that was not known before you left . For instance a
winter storm. Where I kayak often the weather person doesn't know
exactly where the storm is heading. The storm could stay along the
coast line or head out over the water or not even go over the water .
Right now is a good example , hurricane season tends to do weird
things around here . " Great Lakes". I want to be ready for those fast
moving storms that change directions.

It sounds like what you really need is a VHF radio that has coverage for the
National Weather Service channels. I've found that at least our local NWS
channel has very accurate coverage regarding the location of storm cells as
they pass through the area. VHF radios are getting quite affordable and
having the combination of a weather radio and VHF gives you the option of
being able contact someone if a storm takes an unpredictable turn and you
find yourself in trouble.

Just a data point. I have found that one of those small, battery powered
TVs is often quite a bit more valuable than NWS or NOAA broadcasts. I can
recall several times when I would tune in to a local TV station and get
local reports about a storm (sometimes even with live radar). I could sit
there with a state map and tell how counties and roads that were mentioned
related to my position. I could never find a NWS or NOAA station with that
kind of resolution. Of course, coverage by NWS and/or NOAA is much greater
than TV, and if you happen to be in an area where TV reception is poor (and
I've found lots of those places) this is a useless data point. I remember
being in the Everglades and being able to receive only the sound portion of
only one station -- and it was broadcasting ice skating -- all you could
hear was music, gasp, music, applause, music, gasp -- you (don't) get the
picture. The NOAA broadcast came in loud and clear on my weather radio,
unfortunately, it was from Key West. Sometimes you can't escape a storm.
Preparing for enduring a storm can be much more important than trying to
avoid them altogether.

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

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

On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 16:29:43 +0000 (UTC), Drew Cutter
wrote:

So a barometer is good enough ? By going to one of garmin rino gps
should save me a few dollars. Plus a vhs radio should do me find.

I think so. Really, by the time you can do anything about it a barometer
is just as good. I think you can probably do without the barometer, it's
probably just a holdover from my days on a sailboat. As far as day or
weekend trips go, I've never been able to do much better than watching the
local weather and keeping an eye out. Weather gadgets are better for
telling what happened than they are in predicting what will happen. I have
a mount for a Garmin Vista in my kayak, it has a built in barometer
(altimeter) and a compass. It was kind of neat to watch the compass swing
around, the altimeter didn't move much, but when it did, watch out. I
frequently try to out guess the weatherguessers. I can see no less than
three weather instruments from where I sit now. There are oodles more
around the house, I even have sensors and a station in my van. I've even
got one of those watches that shows you barometric pressure. The thing I
have in common with professional weatherguessers is that we are both
miserable in predicting the weather.

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