Threading the Needle

THREADING THE NEEDLE

In the old days (about 30 years ago) we used paper charts. We would roll them, not fold them. If you folded them sure enough the rock that had its name engraved on your keel would be at the fold line and lost in the crease. 

Some of the charts were hand me downs from old retired mariners, some from the marine exchange store and even some NEW. The old ones were cool as some fisherman could have marked where the best clamming, fishing or the secret halibut hole was.  The new ones came about when you were up coast and somehow you did not have a chart for that area or it was too small a scale to see the ever so important lumps that all prudent mariners will avoid (unless you are looking for a new boat from the nice insurance man). 

It was a time that taking courses  at CANADIAN POWER AND SAIL was not an option that you avoided as the skill of reading charts is a acquired knowledge that can be taught and required for boating safely.  The acquired knowledge will keep the bottom of your vessel in deep water to float your boat and find a happy bay for HAPPY hour.

Reading charts is a rewarding skill and it can give you an inner satisfaction that you have done the mariner thing,the old time and true tested way.  The down side was you had to be sober or not forgetting where you put your glasses or the darn chart just blew out the window or where did I put the calipers.  It could put a dent in the navigation thing.  It was time consuming and did require taking your eye off the wheel and in a fast boat, that CAN BE A PROBLEM.

As time went by new technology came on board in the form of electronic charting programs AND THEY ARE A MARVELOUS INVENTION THAT WE HAVE COME TO RELY ON VERY HEAVILY.

Now comes, the threading with needle thing.  When in an area like the Spider Group of islands, God put rocks in the most unexpected places.  He could have plunked them (God forbid) in the center of a channel, JUST under the low water mark.  Sometimes he has been nice enough to mark them with kelp.  In some cases he just forgot to do this as he was busy elsewhere. 

Getting around all these annoying things is like threading a needle.  There are islands, narrow passages, rocks, and reefs galore in this region (it is pretty though).  In the "Raven" (tender to OA) we have become spoiled, lazy, and perhaps not prudent in the fact that we HAVE BECOME HOOKED ON THE LITTLE BLACK BOX on the dash of the boat that tells your precise location, course and speed. It is my I-Phone with a Navionics program on it and as a bonus I can listen to JAMES TAYLOR when threading our way through paradise around all the important things.

 

The eagles (real ones) love the music, but Penny and the sea gulls don’t.  I have become so hooked on this device; I have not even taken paper charts with us.  I can justify this as they will only get blown out of the “Ravens” or become unreadable when wet and soggy. 

DID I SAY THAT WE ARE TOTALLY HOOKED ON THIS NAVIGATIONAL AID?  Most of the time when I go fishing it will be just me, the dog and most likely the fog. The first thing I do is install the I-phone in the tender and boot up the Navionics. It has been foggy in the mornings and that is the best time to go fishing, as it does not interfere with MY afternoon nap.  I bet you thought it was about the best time to catch a fish. 

I manipulate the necessary icons on the little screen and it boots up and then the chart loads up, THEN goes fuzzy, AND THEN GOES BLACK. I stare in amazement.  It is not only black, it jet black AND DEAD. This is going to screw up my fishing. Not only that, out the back door of the bay IS THE WILD SAVAGE COUNTRY WITH never ending lumps on the bottom. There is no way that I can thread my way through that, I can get lost in a tea cup. 

Now I am no techno guy and the possibly only intelligent person that can fix this is perhaps in Port Hardy many miles away.  Worse still I will hand the device to that person and he/she will tell me to come back later, buy a new one, he send it to the factory or push one button and it will work and worse, I will still have to pay him a hundred bucks and be happy to do so. 

I KNOW THAT I CAN NOW NOT LIVE WITOUT THIS BLACK thing.  I now start to admonish myself for not putting the charting system on two other devices like I-phones that we have with us.  You have to be on the internet to do this and in the great Pacific north waters there is not that service behind every tree.  This thing CAN NOT DO THIS TO ME!  I take it to the galley table with a large screw driver in hand; perhaps I can beat it into life.  There is absolutely no start button or reset anywhere on it. I feel like the astronauts in the film Space Odyssey staring at the black monolith on some distant plant. 

I now it’s alive as the only button I can move is the 'silence the ring' one. When I plug it in it gives a whirring sound.  Perhaps if I put it in the galley sink with water it will shake it to life and maybe in its self-defence will show ME IT’S ALIVE. Penny tells me to put it aside as it and me are driving her crazy with the ranting going on. 

Now I secretly work on it when she is not looking, as I HAVE PROMISED to put the evil thing down.  IT CAN NOT BEAT MEEEEEE.  I dab at the black screen with my index finger hoping to revive it.  I practice on Penny’s live I-phone to see if I can learn to trick it.  In desperation I finally hold down the off button till my finger is totally numb.  I think out of self-defence it SPRINGS TO LIFE.  It’s ALIVE I SCREAM TO PENNY.  Now we can thread our way through the lumps and bumps.   Now  we take printed paper charts as well as the magic black box AND THE KNOWLEDGE THAT WE GAINED FROM CANADIAN POWER AND SAIL when we are gunking our way around new water THREADING a NEEDLE.