Sailing and GPS-report

[Stuart Benbow]

Where Knut and I live it's really a no-brainer. If you're out at sea and you get totally lost' date=' the GPS fails, your paper charts blow overboard and the fluid drains out of your compass. Then simply head west by figuring from the sun. Trust me, you'll hit land.[/quote']

Hmm ... lets just hope those who live on the west coast translate that tip and head east or they'll be off to asia.

[Craig]

Redundancy is great and the Saralee is equiped with both a whisky compass and a GPS unit. Up to date charts of the local costal waters are ever present on board. There is one rule in this area to never forget when on the water. If in doubt of one's position just turn north until you find the beach! :roll: :roll:

[Mark Hughes]

Hmmm... whiskey compass! I like it. Always good to know where the closest whiskey is, even in a fog! Does it differentiate between Scotch and Bourbon?

[MikeStevenson]

Hi,

I have to make a little observation here regarding this thread and something Knut wrote ("So, what I am saying is (from the small cockpit of a Weekender), that in dense fog, pitch dark night and other difficult conditions...")

Please keep in mind that the Weeknder was designed for a bit less nasty conditions than this. They're intended for what most people use them for: daysailing and weekend campout-sailing. Don't get too set on big night passages to Catalina or the like; these are little boats. Granted, something might get you in a situation where you DO get stuck in a fog or out after dark (in which case you'd be well served to have a compass and a GPS), but don't go looking for this.

None of here at Stevenson Projects has ever used a GPS, so we can't comment on how to handle one (though they do sound like fun). We have had a lot of boats with nice big compasses though, and they're very nice to steer to. It's nice to glance down and see how things are going, make little adjustments to and fro. I can't imagine that a GPS would be as nice to sail to. I think I'd most likely want the next bearing and sail to that. More experienced sailors should probably correct this if they have any thoughts.

Mike

[David Haddock]

Hi folks.

Knut, I understood your rationale OK until your point about "Dead reckoning with the side-drift, currents etc. is much more of an unknown in such a small sailboat than in a powerboat. Especially if beating against the wind in areas requiring frequent tacking".

This caught my eye as I initially thought you might have the cart in front of the horse in your navigation aids and their priorities, when I read your initial messages... No offense intended please.

My only thought here is to encourage you and other friends that you SHOULD be able to determine set and drift if you are in an area susceptible to fog that has currents, tides. etc..

In our electronic world, radar would be a fine tool in the fog for running fixes and distance to hazards but how many of us will be mounting radar on our small craft?

In leiu of that, I encourage all to take a class, buy a copy of Duttons etc. etc. so that you can do the math in your head and determine set and drift. We should know the currents and we should know the tides and variances (if sailing in potentially hazardous waters or waters that can become so quickly) so that we can refer to our notes, charts, compasses, GPS's and know that we have to steer a course of 165 to actually head on a course of 180 (for example).

your choice of a Silva hand-held compass sounds great too. Great for shooting rough bearings and establishing running fixes.

Thanks!

[Knut]

Mike,

thanks for the comment. You are absolutely right about what you are saying and even though I am personally quite excited about the added possibilities of a GPS (handheld with mapping), I also will end up having a good compass mounted when I find a good model and a good location for it.

Under good daysailing conditions, which should be at least 90% of the time for most of us, you can basically use any navigation method you feel comfortable with, like a good compass and printed maps. As you correctly point out, you may still get caught out on the water in difficult conditions, like much stronger wind than expected. If you don't have a navigator and sailor aboard (in addition to yourself), then handling the boat may make it close to impossible to do much of advanced navigation on paper maps. This due to the boat size, one hand on rudder and one on the main sheet and guarding the coarse and the heel angle. This is where I see a clear advantage and added benefit of a handheld GPS, water tight, pocket size, that you can operate with one hand. Granted that it is not a replacement of other tools, it can still make life so much easier and give added safety and confidence. I have to build further expereince with this tool, but I am already sure that I will never want to go out without it.