Navigation by looking around

[Marianna Max]

so I was using this as a visiual reference and my friend asked me why I was not following the course he had laid out on the GPS chartplotter-I was not using the chartplotter becuase I could see where I was going and had the bow of the boat lined up with the lighthouse!

That's fine as long as you could tell from the chart (which I'm sure you were using right?) that there aren't any rocks or mudflats between where you are (not just where you think you are) and the lighthouse.

[Neil Gordon]

That was a lesson learned ...

At least they didn't name a rock after you.

[Neil Gordon]

... my friend asked me why I was not following the course he had laid out on the GPS chartplotter...

I don't even follow the courses I lay out on the GPS myself... not without a process of confirmation. I enter the waypoints, let the GPS chart the course, then I plot the bearings and distances as calculated by the GPS back on the chart. If all was done correctly, the process should take me back to the waypoints I entered in the first place. If they don't, then I resolve the difference. Navigation is not just about driving the boat.. it's about planning well in advance where you expect to go.

[Frank Vernet]

Navigation is not just about driving the boat.. it's about planning well in advance where you expect to go.

Of all the great things Neil posted on this topic, this is perhaps the best nugget - pure gold. The planning is worth every minute spent calculating headings, studying the chart for hazards (some of which can be pretty subtle), identifying nav landmarks ahead of time, etc... More often than not, all that careful planning goes out the window fairly quickly, but it is the fresh knowledge gained from the preparation that makes all the difference when decisions have to be made on the fly.

r/

[Neil Gordon]

Of all the great things Neil posted on this topic, this is perhaps the best nugget - pure gold.

Thanks, Frank. My publicist could not have said it better.

[M. R. Bober]

What about a trail of cookie crumbs to aid in determining the reciprocal course? Used to do it, but now I worry about discharging the cookie crumbs within 3 miles of the coast.

Imprecise navigation--remember the Chesapeake is mostly soft bottomed--has been the means of discovering new anchorages for generations. Not that I've ever found myself staring at the "wrong" number "2", but it could happen. I'm certain.

Are we reaching the point when we can load our course into the GPS/Autopilot/remote control, start the web cam (connected to a wireless network service), casts off the lines (from the dock), and watch the ship having all of the fun while awaiting its return?

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Annapolis (where the ships are made of fiberglass and the men of strong opinion,) MD

[Neil Gordon]

What about a trail of cookie crumbs to aid in determining the reciprocal course?

Would it make a difference if you only sprinkle certified organic cookie crumbs?

[Neil Gordon]

Not that I've ever found myself staring at the "wrong" number "2", but it could happen.

Unlike a significant percentage of boaters who call SeaTow from somewhere in Boston Harbor. "I'm right here by red #2" is often heard, usually without a clue as to which #2 that might be. I haven't counted, but I suppose there are a dozen or more #2's to be had in Boston.