Magellan GPS

Magellan GPS Sport Trak vs The Imperfect Storm
Executive Summary By Chris Campbell

To say a GPS saved my life, and the life of my family would be a lie. The perfect starter trip, presented itself, when two other family friends decided to take their two boats on a short weekend sail from Bayfield to Goderich Ontario. It's a pretty short distance. a couple hours sailing there on a Saturday, a stay overnight in different marina, and a couple hours sail home the next day. GPS And The Real World

The entire trip would be insight of land, and a GPS was probably not really necessary. The trip up took a little longer then planned, as the wind was of course very light, and not blowing the direction we were heading. All three boats arrived just fine. The GPS worked fine, and it was kinda cool seeing it track our trip over the lake. GPS Bread Crumbs

After a pleasant dinner and fun time in the Goderich marina, we headed of for sleep, with plans to head home early the next day. The wind picked up quickly, and pretty soon we were sailing in 20 knot winds with 3 to six foot waves. The wind of course blowing the opposite direction from where we were heading. A little rough, but we were managing, and we could easily find our way back home by following the shoreline, or our previous days trip, still stored in the Magellan GPS. Thinking smugly that we had avoided any storms I relaxed a little. A GPS Makes A Crummy Umbrella

The line squall hit us dead on. We furled our head sail, and sent the kids below for safety's sake (which of course sent one racing for the head to deposit her breakfast). Nothing but black. As one boating friend tells me, "In a boat, the land is not your friend". Fortunately, our GPS had our home port as a waypoint, and all we could do was follow it's course. Actually all three boats had their GPS set for the home port, and they were following their GPS heading just as we were. As the black dissolved, and the sun shone, our GPS had been true. Who says tech gadgets are just toys? My GPS was a real life saver.