a kayak - Wavelength Paddling Magazine

Skillset
By Alex Matthews
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Set your course dead ahead? No!
IN SOME SITUATIONS, one
very useful strategy for navigation is
to deliberately aim away from your
intended target. While this may initially
seem counterintuitive, intentionally “aiming
off ” can be the most reliable way of
finding your way to your destination.
Let’s say that you are making a crossing
to a small campsite. From your starting
point, the far shore appears very uniform
in geography and there are no distinctive
landmarks to denote your intended
campsite’s location.
Knowing the campsite’s position on your
chart, you can set a compass course directly
to it. But if you should fail to pick out the
site by the time you reach the far shore,
you won’t know which way to turn (right or
left) in order to reach it. The site might be
very close by on your right, but if you guess
incorrectly and turn left instead, you will
waste a lot of time before doubling back
and finally locating the elusive campsite.
A better strategy is to intentionally aim
off to one side or the other of your target.
That way you are guaranteed to know
Aim off
How aiming away from your target
can get you there more reliably
which way to turn in order to locate your
goal.
1
Working with the chart, aim off
to a point that is a predetermined
distance from your final destination. Pick,
for example, to cross to a point half a
nautical mile to the right of the campsite.
If, like most paddlers, you cruise at about
3 knots, then it will take you about 10
minutes to cover that half nautical mile.
Your new plan then, is to paddle
across the channel, hit the far shore, turn
left and paddle along the shoreline for
approximately 10 minutes. This should put
you very close to the campsite.
In this scenario the shoreline is serving
as both a “backstop” and as a “handrail”
that will guide you to your goal. It’s also
worth noting that this strategy works just as
well in dense fog or at night.
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In another scenario we might use the
same strategy but with a particular
emphasis on the backstop and handrail
aspects. Imagine this time that we are
crossing to a far point of a distant island
completely enveloped in fog. If we set a
46 COAST&KAYAK MAGAZINE SPRING 2011