New member from Sonoma Coast - Shipwrecks anyone?

Hello all,

First I feel like I should say that I'm a kayaker but not so much of an angler,... WAIT WAIT, here me out!  I think it's cool and a lot of my friends are anglers of all sorts.  Mostly I'm a diver though.  So why did I chose to join a forum like this? 

Well, I was thinking that I'd be able to learn a lot from the kayaking experience of y'all, and maybe find a few of you that are interested in what I'm doing.  I won't get too much into advertising our historical research society nonprofit until I get a better read on what's acceptable here in terms of promotion, but I will say that it involves maritime heritage research, but in research libraries and in the ocean.  Locating and documenting shipwreck remains and traces of old lumber landings is a big part of that.  We work a lot with Cal State Parks and the Bodega Marine Lab of UC Davis.

Trouble is, as you all know there's a reason so many schooners, steamers, and other ships wrecked on the Sonoma and Mendocino coastlines.  Among other reasons, it's rocky and high-energy in the near-shore areas.  These factors also make it difficult to search either by diving or by typical surface scans involving a magnetometer or sonar.  One of our solutions is to use a sidescan fishfinder (Humminbird Helix-7 MSI) on a kayak (Trident 13 Angler) to navigate and search between wash rocks etc.

My dive buddy has been fishing off a kayak maybe his whole life, but I've got much less experience.  And what we're trying to do is somewhat technical and ambitious.  So I'm sure I can learn from you all, and I'm happy to share about what we're doing.  For those that live nearby, maybe there will be some interest to help us or even just be out there at the same time.

Cheers! 
John

Great intro, welcome aboard.

Super fascinating stuff you're doing.

I'm sure you'll be able to find a wealth of knowledge about fish finders here from some of the more experienced folk.

Whats up John!

Talked to you randomly in the Safeway parking lot one day about your project and the Trident you were getting.  I had my yak in the truck.  The kayak based scanning and mapping project sounds pretty cool, has the potential to find some neat stuff along the coast.

Welcome to NCKA!

Welcome John!

That is a rad project and thank you for sharing.  I would love to read more about your discoveries and ongoing research.  I wish I lived closer to that part of the coastline because it sounds like a lot of fun.

Cheers!

  WILL RESEARCH
           4
SIDE SCAN SONAR



 :smt003WTTM

Hey John, welcome to NCKA!!  I recently purchased a Raymarine Fish finder with HyperVision 1.2 megahertz sonar. It gives a super clear history of what I have passed over up to about 100 feet deep. So if I see something that looks like ship do I mark a way point, and send your group the coordinates?

Mark

Welcome aboard John 

Welcome John, that sounds very interesting. I look forward to hearing more about your work.

Great intro, welcome aboard.

Super fascinating stuff you're doing.

+2

Sounds like a great project.  I'll surely let you know if I find Gilligan.  Good luck!

Welcome! I'm a kayak angling newbie as well but I'm excited to hear some updates from your project.

welcome John to NCKA.   

Hi John, welcome 

That sounds like some really interesting stuff you're working on. Especially if you're getting some fish around the sunken structures at the same time.

Welcome. It all sounds very cool and I hope you share some tales of discovered wrecks. Looking forward.