Cantr II Discussion Forum

I'm thinking about tryin this out. I found this web site and there are like 5 caches within 5 miles of my house. Does anybody know much about this and have they ever done it.?
Also I dont have a gps but do you think I could find them just using the maps on the web site and my knowledge of the area?

Here is the site http://www.geocaching.com/ Just type in your zip code and you might be surprised how many are near your house, I was.

Ah.. Caches with mssgs in it? Or a small surprise?

Can't see the fun in it tho. It sounds like those old "fox-hunts" using radio's etc...
And I can't understand all the excitement around GPS's lately, the damn things exist since 1985 and all they do is display UR current position...

Gimme a sextant and the sun or a couple 'o stars and I can do the same. And be proud of the result.

Then do it that way, so you can laugh in the faces of all the people using their fancy gps devices

You know what a decent sextant costs?

Hmmm. I might steal one from one of the ships I work on... They'd probably not notice it for a year as they're rarely used anymore.

Ah, very good. Does a sextant provide you with information about your E-W position, or about your N-S position?

It doesn't give you both, right?

And please don't answer with longitude or latitude. I keep confusing the two terms, and I can't find a way to remember them correctly.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=a0d53755-5819-414a-83e9-16c5da9cd592


Hey, this goes right into the camp (Rotary Scout Reservtion) I work at. No wonder why we had so many lost fucking lost hikers this summer and some idiot that decide to jump from the Barberville's Falls and kill himself.

I wonder what they would do if I took their caches....

@Thomas: lat=fat

Thomas Pickert wrote:And please don't answer with longitude or latitude. I keep confusing the two terms, and I can't find a way to remember them correctly.

Lol... I had the same problem for years.

A good way to remember them: They always start with pos. N or S.
So lat: N or S..
Long: E or W.

And yes, it gives you both, as long as you know the accurate time, which has been the great problem for ages, untill a carpenter called "Harris" invented an accurate and small clock to be used on board of ships.

And to be honest, I forgot all about using a sextant... We rarely use them anymore (Never). But when well practiced, I could get a damn accurate position by using the noon sun only, and in less than 10 minutes.
Note that at nautical school, we barely practiced using the sextant anymore as it was outdated already. It's not difficult tho, so while on an oceancrossing with little to do it's really easy and fun to practise some more... But on the busy european waters with all its narrows and heavy traffic, it's suicide since we generally have a 1 man bridge watch. (Officially we have AB's as a lookout, but they're useless).
Enough accidents already as it is using GPS and digital charts.

The way I was taught.

If it is not tall (up and down) it can be considered long (left to right).

long = left to right = west to east = longitude

A change in up and down is a change in altitude.

up and down = north to south = altitude = latitude

The only two other things being from the east coast USA...

If you get lost

1) follow the setting sun (southwest)
2) go whichever way the wind blows (a luck thing, it is northwest on most days near Virginia)

becuase if that is all you know how to do you don't have any business being out of site of the coast so get back to it lubber.

But a sextant is useless unless you know or have a book of where stuff is supposed to be at specific times of year and what time and day it is at the momment right?

....or you can be smart and bring a compass and map with you.

Thanks, David!

The altitude-latitude idea will finally have cured my problems with those terms! Seriously, this bugs me for many years now, and the best is, it will also help me with the German words for it. Excellento!

Maps? Useless in open waters unless they contain sextant kind of info.

Compass? It has to be a good one. Most just spin when presented with not being held level due to rocking from even very small waves.

Wasn't the inventor of the chronometer Harrison, not Harris? Anyway, I figure I could find a bunch of those caches without a GPS. The only problem is that New York has a surprisingly small number of them. Well, another problem is that I have better things to do.

This reminds me of: 'Oh yeah, of course I could quit smoking, but I just don't want to!'