Etrex Vista C and circular race route

Hi,

I use an etrex Vista C to navigate a rowing racing course in San
Francisco Bay. The course starts and ends in the same place (runs
under the Golden Gate bridge, around various buoys and near various
points).

I would like to be able to:

1) have the GPS unit display the route waypoints in the proper order
from Start to Finish
or specifically, display the directional arrow and distance to the
next waypoint with Heading
2) be able to do this with no hands (they are busy with oars)

The critical part is displaying the information in order as one
navigates the course.

Currently, the behavior is something like this:

1) the first waypoint is skipped no matter what. It's a throwaway.
2) If the finish is the same as the start (it usually is in these
races), then the etrex Vista C tells me I have arrived at the finish
(true enough, but not the information I would like.)

Several of us have resorted to not inputting the finish and just
navigating by sight (horrors), which is tough in rowing because you're
not facing the direction you're traveling (so you have to constantly
look over your shoulder).

The Vista C works fairly well in every other regard (for my uses).

Thanks for any help,

Torsten

freeheelfunhog wrote:

Have you looked at using the Highway page?

That will show your position relative to a black line that represents
the projected course from the starting point to the next waypoint. It
shows your position relative to that line so you can see your cross
track error or deviation from the planned course.

You can also turn on the display of data boxes to with that page. Those
will give you a display of any of about 40 different elements of info.
Press Menu, get you manual out, it's all in there.


You would have to place waypoints to mark or define the turning points
in the route. I assume all the legs in the route a straight lines from
one turning point to the next. That would be a point to point route (or
Off Road route in Garmin speak). Once you place the points and put them
in a route, you can choose the route and activate it. The highway
display will give you a display to the first waypoint in the route and
process them in the sequence in your route. No further use of your
hands would be necessary.

The logic for advancing the display from one waypoint to the next can be
based on proximity or on the logic in the Auto mode. The Auto mode is
probably best for all practical purposes. It advances to the next
waypoint when your current waypoints falls behind a line that is
perpendicular to your direction of travel. But you may like the way the
proximity mode works better.

Once you start getting close to the actual turning mark or buoy, you
have to pretty much ignore the GPS receiver and use your eyes and head
to guide the boat. This is because the logic in the GPS is very literal
and will want to point you directly at the waypoint regardless of where
that is relative to the real world and the object that you want to get
to and pass by as closely as possible.

Never place a waypoint directly on an object you do not want to hit.


You first waypoint should be the first turning point, mark, or
destination in the route. Your starting point is where you are at the
moment you activate the route (the location of your present fix). If
you put a waypoint behind or at the starting line, the GPS will want to
take you to it.

But what you really want to do is be behind the starting line, milling
around with the other boats I'd assume, and using your head and eyes to
stay behind the line and get a good start. All you need to know from
the GPS is where you want to go once you cross the line.

I don't think you will to be on the rhumb line at many times as you will
be steering a course that compensates for winds and currents. But
knowing where you are relative to it is a good thing. Also being able
to see the effects of wind and currents on the rhumb line can be a good
thing.

I lived in The City and up in Sonoma for some years, I know the Golden
Gate area area. I'd be very surprised to hear that they no longer have
winds and currents there. Watch out for the potato patch over there


You can put the waypoint for the finish line at the end of the route.
There is no way the GPS will know what is the best place for you to
cross the finish line. If that is the info you say you "would like",
you'll have to decide all that as you close on the finish line.

If the finish line has some width to it, I place the last waypoint at
the windward end of the line. If it was fairly narrow set of gates or
something like that, I'd probably place it in the center.


You probably want your display set to the Track Up (as opposed to North
UP) mode. Then you'll be looking at your progress along the projected
course but it will be upside down.

You could mount the GPS upside down and it would look right but the text
in the data boxes would be upside down.

But it won't take long to get in the habit of steering intuitively to
get back to the line. Unfortunately, Garmin does not offer a Track Down
mode nor can you invert the data box displays.

During the pre-start maneuvering you could place a waypoint at the
starting line (at your intended finish point) and then add it to you
route and hope that nothing moves too far during the race.

Also, you want to activate your route just before the start. Or you can
recalculate it in the closing moments and it will give you the best
possible relationship between your starting fix and the first waypoint.


Don't take it as an insult but it seems that many new GPS users are
under the impression that having a GPS will relieve them of much of the
thinking that should go into driving or boating. Or maybe even provide
them with some great advantage or magic solution if they just pay
attention to it.

On the highways some people seem to be tuning out the real world and
wanting the GPS to do the thinking. These are the people that drive to
the wrong street with the right name, or drive into streets that are too
narrow, or try to drive under bridges that are too low, or even take
their cars down streets that have been closed or turned into pedestrian
or bicycle only through ways.

There is probably a parallel mindset out there on the waters. I know of
people that have put their waypoints on big, heavy, floating objects
like aids to navigation, engaged an autopilot, and then ran into the
NAVAID. And then acted like it was not their fault. Bizarre, no?

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)