Boat compass...

[tico]

True story...
many many years ago when GPS was in it's infancy and rare , I borrowed my mates hugely expensive portable unit (about the size of a housebrick) for a planned holiday taking my little 21' craft from Penzance to the Isles of Scilly.

Set off with clear blue sky and flat water (you can tell where this is going) and about halfway there into a thick, thick fog bank. Couldnt see much beyond the pulpit.
No problem thought I, good job I brought the GPS.
However after switchon and trying to find satellites, it gave up the ghost. New batteries no help.

I was very glad for the compass and eventually finding my way back on a reverse compass course to Mousehole and crept along the coast back to Penzance,
(manufacturer later refused warranty on the basis that it should not be used in a damp envoronment)

Sometimes a compass is all you need/can rely on.

 

[Uricanejack]

Yeah i got cought out about 5years ago in a small SIB about 1mile up and 1 mile out from where i launched from.

I instantly went from a man to a boy wanting his mummy as i felt the color drain from my face and the feeling of dred came over me as it was the VERY first time this had ever happened and i NEVER plan to ever do it again.

Like most things on my small boat i want it for "another measure of safety" than daily use. Its always a "just in case"

Do you need a compass or not? Up to you, how comfortable do you feel?

As a youngster I went fishing in open boats for years without ever contemplating a compass. I suppose I could say I didn’t know any better. Or I was just plain foolish. I didn’t contemplate bringing a life jacket either. So foolish is probably the better term.

I have had a couple of small runabouts I use for fishing. My first was not fitted with a compass, I used to carry a HBC JIK.
I was quite happy with this as a set up. Should it ever have been required I felt I would be able to find my way back.
I replaced that particular boat and my current fishing boat, actually a little smaller. Has a fitted compass. Nice. Just a little bobble head kind of like the one my friend had on the dash of his Capri under the dice.

Steering to a compass is not easy, it’s quite an acquired skill, even with a large compass designed for the job.

using a compass to keep you heading the right direction by checking it every so often while you steer by other impute on the other hand works quite well. Particularly if you practice occasionally.
Eg, wind, waves, swell, wake.

if you can find a compass with a nice bezel (ring) with a clearly marked white line On the bezel and a line on the card. You can set the line on the bezel to the course you wish to steer rather than trying to read the card.
It will work well enough.
A proper compass with a bezel will be a lot easier to use than a hand compass. If you ever need to.
or trying to steer to the graduation on the card.

It does not have to be big or fancy, I really liked my wrist compass for diving. Set the bezel and I knew which way to go.

personally I prefer to have one. Even when I don’t need it. Just in case I do.

 

[Seastoke]

Dan get a hand held gps , off ebay second hand there is a megellan for start 10 qwid.