October 16, 2007 11:50
I've just returned from several months of fishing in the central Aleutians where the currents are at least as bad as in the San Juans. I find it odd that you would worry so much about NOAA warnings on interpolation. The published current tables for the Aleutians aren't based on interpolation; rather, they are based on extrapolation from the few accurately measured stations in the eastern Aleutians. If NOAA extrapolates its own tables then a bit of interpolation can't be so bad.
Your discussion sort of misses the point that in many cases, anything is better than nothing at all. Most commercial fishing boats run Windows nav packages that do include current vectors in their displays. Nobody sees them as the gospel truth, but they do add a visual reminder of somebody's initial estimate of the situation. Despite the inherent inaccuracy I think the lack of current vectors is my biggest point of envy with the Windows packages.
Current vectors will never be perfect, and that is no reason to shy away from them. In the end they're not so different from weather forecasts. Ideally some easy way would be provided to alter the slack times and peak current speeds for individual arrow symbols so that familiarity with an area would eventually lead to reasonable accuracy. Maybe current vectors should be presented as a personal mapping tool rather than a statement of conditions. I'd really like to be able to make my own.
Your discussion sort of misses the point that in many cases, anything is better than nothing at all. Most commercial fishing boats run Windows nav packages that do include current vectors in their displays. Nobody sees them as the gospel truth, but they do add a visual reminder of somebody's initial estimate of the situation. Despite the inherent inaccuracy I think the lack of current vectors is my biggest point of envy with the Windows packages.
Current vectors will never be perfect, and that is no reason to shy away from them. In the end they're not so different from weather forecasts. Ideally some easy way would be provided to alter the slack times and peak current speeds for individual arrow symbols so that familiarity with an area would eventually lead to reasonable accuracy. Maybe current vectors should be presented as a personal mapping tool rather than a statement of conditions. I'd really like to be able to make my own.