John LeRoy mentioned...

Skipper Bob, in the publication The Great Circle Route, strongly
recommends reaching Trenton by July 1, to avoid the "rush of
Canadians on holiday."

We're going to have tough time meeting that schedule.

Dennis replies...

Nothing about this trip timing is really cast in stone, except for the ice
in the locks in the north and the canals closing for winter. Mostly the
timing tips deal with generalities in weather patterns and traffic counts
on the canals. In Canada the last two weeks of July are "Labor Holidays",
and boating traffic really does increase dramatically, especially on the
Ottawa River, Rideau, 1,000 Islands area where Montreal based mostly
trailerable boats do their own small loop of around 350 miles from Montreal
counterclockwise back to Montreal. The lock staff refers to this as the
"Invasion of the Quebec Navy".

We found late July and early August to be an easy time on theTrent Severn,
and also found that many, many cottagers in the Georgian Bay leave their
cottages by the first or second week of August leaving way fewer boats and
lots of anchorages with no traffic.

I've always suggested leaving Mackinaw by Labor Day because the chances of
adverse weather are much greater later. Another rule of thumb, if the
weather is good on Lake Michigan in September, be prepared to put in a few
long days, because it will change soon, and you will be holed up for a few
days. While most of the towns are nice, it will not hurt to miss a few. Of
course, a nice Indian Summer period can come along and reward the late
comers!

It can be cold in Chicago in late September. We've scrapped ice off the
boat there and then. But, Fall color going south on the rivers is best in
late October.

Try not to put pressure on yourself to do a certain number of miles per
day, but look at your past cruising averages, including lay days and
project where will  or need to be when, and if a little more steam is
needed, or you can take a few days easy.

Dennis

Dennis Bruckel, Cruising Editor
Waterway Guide
Albin 27  Sadie B
website www.debruckel.com

Does anyone use of have experience with Ray Navigator 6.0 software? I have
seen the demo and it looks okay. Any comments?

We have Ray marine E-120 Chart plotters for navigation and we are thinking
of using Ray Navigator 6.0 for a back up system. Before I purchase this
expensive software I would like to hear from the Loopers. Please.

My wife and I are starting the loop on March 5th from Ft. Myers, Florida and
plan to be in St. Simon Florida by March 11th. If anybody has any
suggestions of what to see or where to go in the area of St. Simon please
let us know.

David

David A. Russo
M/V Adesso

Cell (847) 778-1018
YachtAdesso@earthlink.net

David:
I am using the RN 6.0 coupled to the E 120 with Platinum charts. I find the
system works fine. I have the E120 at the helm of my sailboat and the RN 6.0
running on a laptop at the nav station below. The two are connected with a
Ray Marine supplied Ethernet cable. In the event of a failure of the E 120,
I have a Garmin hand held GPS hooked to the laptop via a USB port that gives
me a complete stand alone nav system. Additionally, the computer and GPS are
portable and I use that on my Lobster boat as a charting system as well as
at home for planning.
With a laptop, the RN 6.0 is the least expensive way to provide a back up
system as well as a remote station on board. I find the RN 6.0 is virtually
identical to the E 120 in terms of function and key strokes. There are a few
minor differences because you are using the computer keyboard, but nothing
significant. I would not get the Ray Marine keyboard that mimics the E120.
The system is user friendly given its complexity and is easy to learn. You
can plan courses, routes, waypoints etc at home on the laptop and then plug
it into the E 120 and download everything. All instruments, radar, GPS,
autopilot, etc are readable on the laptop when plugged into the E 120. As a
stand alone nav system it does everything the E 120 does without the radar
and instruments overlay. When hooked to the handheld GPS, you have full
position, course, CTE, distances, waypoint and speed data available.
I would recommend the RN 6.0 as a great add on to the E 120. I found it to
be money well spent to provide a remote station and a back-up nav system in
one package. Give me a call or email if you have any further questions.

Regards,
Henry

HENRY C. PITTS
15757 Irish Ave.
Monkton, MD 21111
H-410-472-4578
C-410-236-2308
hpitts@hughes.net

-----Original Message-----
From: great-loop-bounces@lists.samurai.com
[mailto:great-loop-bounces@lists.samurai.com] On Behalf Of David Russo
Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 11:32 PM
To: great-loop@lists.samurai.com
Subject: GL: Ray marine software

Does anyone use of have experience with Ray Navigator 6.0 software? I have
seen the demo and it looks okay. Any comments?

We have Ray marine E-120 Chart plotters for navigation and we are thinking
of using Ray Navigator 6.0 for a back up system. Before I purchase this
expensive software I would like to hear from the Loopers. Please.

My wife and I are starting the loop on March 5th from Ft. Myers, Florida and
plan to be in St. Simon Florida by March 11th. If anybody has any
suggestions of what to see or where to go in the area of St. Simon please
let us know.

David

David A. Russo
M/V Adesso

Cell (847) 778-1018
YachtAdesso@earthlink.net

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