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Subject: Re: Mercator vs. Great Circle Charts
From: Richard B. Emerson (navsys@XXX.XXX)
Date: Wed Aug 29 2001 - 12:35:37 EDT
Still in use??? I don't think so or you weren't seeing SATNAV. The
Transit satellites have been shut down. I've lost track of the URL
but I think NavCen had some pieces about pulling the plug on the
satellites. Anyway, the point is the satellites are silent. Maybe
you were seeing Omega or some other system?
After the QE2 taking the bottom on a rock off Nantucket and a couple
of similar groundings from blindly following the data on a nav
console, any captain who doesn't wear suspenders, a belt, and a
skyhook to keep his or her navigational pants up is asking for
problems. Your observation suggests at least one captain so
equipped. [s]
Rick
S/V One With The Wind, Baba 35
Young, Derrick writes:
> Rick,
>
> I understand your comment about SATNAV - but I was on a cruise ship recently
> and they still had the equipment and it was still in use. Like many
> mariners - we seem to keep the old stuff "just in case." I still found
> folks onboard that thought it was funny that the quartermaster was taking
> dawn/noon and dusk shots with a sextant and then working out the position
> (by hand!) to confirm what the position that the GPS and LORAN-C were
> reporting.
>
> It felt good (to me) to see their accuracy was a bit better than mine (lots
> more practice!).
>
> derrick
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