westhinder
Well-known member
The traditional argument against over-reliance on electronic navigation is of course that it can fail for any number of reasons and you have to be able to get home safely by traditional navigation. I am not disputing that.
But I am intrigued to know how high that risk really is.
I can remember the first decca we had on board, an AP Philips navigator, had a nasty habit of showing a red light when you most needed an accurate position. But since we have had gps I have never had to resort to traditional navigation because of a failure. No electricity blackout, no failed chartplotter and no satellites on strike. The problem of selective availability is long in the past. I have experienced a loss of signal in a very deep and narrow fjord, but there was no doubting my position then. And before you ask, yes when on passage I do plot my position hourly on the chart and enter it in the log book for good measure.
Oh, and should my chartplotter give up the ghost, I have a separate gps, and gps position data provided by the AIS and the VHF(separately), Navionics on my iPad and iPhone and I must have a handheld gps somewhere, just put in some batteries and ready to go.
But I am intrigued to know how high that risk really is.
I can remember the first decca we had on board, an AP Philips navigator, had a nasty habit of showing a red light when you most needed an accurate position. But since we have had gps I have never had to resort to traditional navigation because of a failure. No electricity blackout, no failed chartplotter and no satellites on strike. The problem of selective availability is long in the past. I have experienced a loss of signal in a very deep and narrow fjord, but there was no doubting my position then. And before you ask, yes when on passage I do plot my position hourly on the chart and enter it in the log book for good measure.
Oh, and should my chartplotter give up the ghost, I have a separate gps, and gps position data provided by the AIS and the VHF(separately), Navionics on my iPad and iPhone and I must have a handheld gps somewhere, just put in some batteries and ready to go.