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From: Jim Thompson (no email)
Date: Mon Oct 18 2004 - 06:16:02 EDT
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Navigation Mailing List on Behalf Of Bill
> When the boaters among you head out do you have a compass even though you
> have GPS or other electronic navigation equipment? Perhaps a hand-bearing
> compass as well?
Definitely. I can say with confidence that most (all?) boaters in our
communities have a compass mounted at the helm station. In our region
boaters frequently talk about compass bearings for familiar crossings, which
of course are all less than about 60 nautical miles at a time.
Few have handheld compasses. I have two, one in the boat's binoculars, and
the other a good handheld. I use them to shoot anchorage bearings, check
danger bearings, and verify the GPS in tight situations.
> A manual bilge pump to back up the electric one. A
> flashlight. Spare batteries?
Both are required by law. Most boats in our community submit to an annual
"courtesy inspection" by the Coast Guard each spring, obtaining a sticker
for the port side.
> Paper charts and plotting tools?
Yes, but as we have discussed, short-distance coastal cruisers in home
waters tend not to use them for constant plotting in the classic DR plot
sense. The plotting tools are usually left in a drawer all season, if a
boater carries them, because they just are not useful, and on modern boats
our size there is no chart table. Paper charts are usually carried in
plastic envelopes for reference.
A log?
For recording guests. Some of us record our day trips, most do not. In
familiar waters near home boaters here do not maintain a nav or VHF log.
During crossings ("cruises") a few of us (small minority) record a few
positions and observations.
GPS is so reliable that there are very few tales in the community of GPS
failures. The grounding stories that we hear about every summer have more
to do with cutting too close to familiar points, probably not even watching
the GPS, or navigating in less familiar locations by electronic and paper
charts that are out of date because we have shifting bottoms that are only
surveyed every few decades.
Jim Thompson
www.jimthompson.net
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