One man's rush to jump on the kayaking bandwagon

Sanoodi is a site for sharing GPS tracks. It's a great idea, but it seems fairly buggy. It relies on Google Maps for everything and therefore has all the limitations of Google Maps (lot's of time spent watching the spinning beach ball). I also just don't understand the need for the obligatory Flickr integration. Why can't I turn this off? Why can't I make my tracks private? It also seems to have some IE specific functionality. Overall, it just doesn't feel finished.

EveryTrail is a more polished version of Sanoodi. Tracks can be made private and I don't have to look at other people's random Flickr photos.

Both sites lack the ability to simplify GPS tracks by limiting the number of points. Adding this as part of the upload process would significantly improve the perceived responsiveness of the sites as the maps would render much faster. I was also not impressed with the search functionality of either site.

Although, I might just be overly critical since I've thought about making a site like this myself. :-) I think I'll stick to using GPSVisualizer.com for now.

I put in at the north end of the island with the intent of paddling around the ocean side of the island and coming back in Masonborro inlet. Many of the put in locations at the north end are not usable at low tide unless you like dragging your kayak across mud flats and oyster beds. Even though it was only an hour after high tide, the "channel" out to the north inlet was still less than 8 inches deep in some areas.

As I rounded the north end of the island and headed out Mason inlet, there didn't appear to be an inlet. I was looking at a solid wall of 6 foot waves breaking over a shallow sand bar. The waves along the beach looked smaller and it looked like if I paddled parallel to the beach for a hundred yards or so and then turn out into the ocean, all I had to deal with were a few 2-3 foot waves. If the water was warmer, I would have gone for it. But, I turned around and headed back towards the intercoastal.

Later in the afternoon, I walked out the the end of the island to get a better look. At low tide, it's obvious where the bar was. The waves were also much smaller and manageable. I blame myself first and Google second for not looking into this before heading out. I knew that Mason inlet was recently moved, but I had no idea that Google map data was that old.

Woohoo! More kayak porn for Christmas. The third installment is the best so far. Each volume includes more story than the previous volume. If there's one thing I'd like to see in volume four, it's more time spent on the people. I'm interested in hearing how all of these people have the time to go on these expeditions and seemingly travel all of the time.

I need a new GPS. My current set up of a bluetooth GPS and Cetus GPS running on my Treo is too clunky.

I'm interested in something that's waterproof and can record tracks on a removable memory card. Mapping would be nice, but it's not a requirement. The obvious choice is a Garmin GPSMAP 76, but the large size, questionable GPS sensitivity, and pathetic battery life are significant negatives. My current set up has great battery life and has the added advantage of being able to run TomTom, but I can't really use it while I'm on the water. The buttons are too small and the touch screen just doesn't work with with my gloves on. I could use the stylus, but that requires two hands.

While I don't have any nautical mapping software, my Treo does run GoogleMaps. A satellite image does just as good a job at telling me what's around the corner as a map. The only downside is that I need cell reception, but this hasn't been a problem so far.

Overall, I'm just not impressed with the GPS's available today. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to send me a note.

Heath and I headed down to the beach this weekend for a baby shower. That meant that I had to stay out of the house. Fine with me. I went out early and spent a couple of hours paddling against the wind and current. After crashing the party for some lunch, I headed back out and still managed to fight the wind and current the entire way. Overall, a great day on the water.

It was cold and windy. Perfect paddling weather. Paddling on flat water is becoming less and less interesting. There's something about paddling on water that feels alive.

The second annual Quiet Boat parade had a much higher turnout than last year. We went from 2 boats to 3 boats. We even made the Lumina News.

From the article:

I went out in the ocean for the second time today. I started out intending on just spending some time in the moving water in the inlet, but once I got there, I decided to just go for it.

Going out, I had rear quartering 6 foot swells that I was able to ride most of the way out to the pier. Just after I turned around to head back, the wind really picked up. The wind was directly in my face, causing 1-2 foot breakers as I was coming back into the inlet. It was a rough ride and a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun.

I may be becoming a salt water snob. Flat water just isn't doing it for me anymore.