Would it be considered 'cheating' to carry a gps unit on a fell race to use as an emergency? I was thinking of carrying mine in the Borrowdale fell race, not to navigate with but as a safety precaution. What do you guys/girls think?
Would it be considered 'cheating' to carry a gps unit on a fell race to use as an emergency? I was thinking of carrying mine in the Borrowdale fell race, not to navigate with but as a safety precaution. What do you guys/girls think?
I was only suggesting carry one to use when navigation with map and compass wouldn't be possible. What would you do if your compass and or map became lost? I am not condoning using it because you can't navigate but why not have it just in case? Can't be a bad thing to have can it?
How are you planning to loose your map and compass?
I have to admit to putting check point refs in my Garmin and found this useful in the mist, just a hi-tech way of dialling in a number on a compas. In fact the Garmin screen acted like a compass with a big thick arrow pointing the direction and also giving the distance to next CP. Map & proper compas stuffed in bum bag though - just playing about with technology
Yeah, but then people will start putting short cuts either they or a mate have found on a recce and following that in the mist, which would be cheating if you ask me, or at least not in the spirit of the thing. A guy in my club has a 305 and reckons he can run at race speed following a course on it (and he's fast). He also thinks that to do so in a race would be cheating.
To avoid losing time reading the Garmin why not have a radio earpiece and get someone to plot your route on a map back at base and give you satnav type instructions...
I mean hey! you might gain a few places in the field.
I reckon all courses should be flagged with marshals to point out the rocks every ten metres.
What's the difference between following a compas bearing on a compas and following the same bearings on an electronic display? Have you never written a list of bearings on your hand to dial into your compas at set points on a route to give you the best line/most appropriate line? The only advantage I could see was that it told you have far off the target bearing you were. I'm not talking about following a pre-loaded route from a gps device, that's a different thing altogether.