Tumpline Know How Finding YourWaypoint COMING SOON.
USING A GPS can be a simple matter of pushing the right buttons
CANOE TRIPPING WITH A GPS can be a dizzying experience. Revolving numbers denoting rate of speed, heading, route his- tory, track log, distance to destination and time of sunrise are all just a finger twitch away. It’s nice to know a new GPS could be a deep well of mental stimulation for you, but if all you really want to do is add a prac- tical and capable tool to your set of naviga- tion skills, then you really just need to know about waypoints. At any time you can record your present
position as a waypoint, or you can enter a distant destination into your GPS as a way- point. Once you’ve entered a waypoint, the utility of your GPS goes into orbit.
Let’s look at the following three examples:
CROSSING A FOGGY LAKE You need to cross a narrow lake to a por- tage on the far side but the fog is so thick you can’t see your bow. Instead of feeling your way around the shore, obtain the UTM coordinates of the portage from your topo map and enter them as a waypoint. Hit the “Go To” function and, presto, the GPS will tell you the portage is 1.1 kilometres distant at a bearing of 323 degrees. It even points the way for you.
ROUTE PLANNING
You’ve plotted on your map your route for a four-day canoe trip and circled good camp- sites, swimming spots and hikes. Don’t stop there. Enter the route’s noteworthy coordi- nates into your GPS as waypoints. Switch to
YOU’VE GOT THE WHOLE WORLD
IN YOUR HAND. PHOTO: IAN MERRINGER
the map screen and see all the points over- laid on the built-in map. Select the “New Route” function and the GPS will prompt you to enter the waypoints in the order you want to travel. When you arrive at the put-in to start your trip, turn on your GPS and ac- tivate the route. The navigation screen will pop up and point to the first waypoint.
RECORD YOUR ROUTE
You decide you want to go birding in an expansive marsh. You turn on your GPS and record the put-in as a waypoint, then attach it to the thwart so that you can see the screen. Before you know it you’ve trav- elled 5.3 kilometres through the marsh and you decide to head back. With a sinking but familiar feeling you realize all the channels look the same. Fortunately, your GPS has been recording a track as you wandered through the swamp. You activate the “Track Back” option and your GPS flips to the navi- gation page. You retrace your strokes by fol- lowing the friendly arrow to the put-in.
And remember to learn how to use your GPS in conjunction with, not separate from, your map and compass. A GPS can bring space-age technology to the age-old art of navigation, but it will be just a fragile stone- age tool if you find yourself looking at a screen that reads, “Dead Battery.” —Matt Cruchet is a risk management consul- tant who teaches GPS courses for the National Green Check GPS Certification Program. www.
RiskManagementConsulting.ca.
C ANOE ROOT S n 1 9
For a complete tour schedule, check out
www.reelpaddlingfilmfestival .com
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