Kipper
Well-Known Member
You little tinker
Confessions of a skipper - True or False?
- Thread starter oceanfroggie
- Start date
blueglass
Well-Known Member
I wanted it to be true, but glad for your sake it wasn't. a great little read.
oceanfroggie
Well-Known Member
Just an after thought in relation to sources of heading information.
As you can see from the pic below I have three main and alternate sources of heading data. The primary being the GPS chart plotter right in front of me, the secondary being the electronic compass displayed by the auto helm directly in my eye line beside the helm, and the third being the actual magnetic compass which is set well forward of the seating position. Also have a HBC but that's rarely used now, more for fun to plot fix from land intersects and compare with gps.
My story does show the risk of "habit" becoming focused on one source of information or a bad practice. "Human factors" affecting behaviour under stressful situations may explain how I may not have noticed the increasing depth, nor that the AP heading and compass did not agree. The HBC or hand held plotter could have quickly cleared that up. When things go wrong sometimes an initial period of "denial" can lead to diagnostic paths being ignored. With other "true" mishaps I have been involved in, I learned that slowing everything down, analysing and thinking before acting often helps with a more logical response. Then reevaluation and if necessary readjustment can be critical to a good outcome. I'm sure at one time or another we've all experienced a navigation dilemma when real world evidence is in conflict with our expectations or data supplied by the electronics. Which to believe? How to carefully diagnose the actual situation? Learning is an never ending journey.
Ps. I'll post a true confession story soon.
As you can see from the pic below I have three main and alternate sources of heading data. The primary being the GPS chart plotter right in front of me, the secondary being the electronic compass displayed by the auto helm directly in my eye line beside the helm, and the third being the actual magnetic compass which is set well forward of the seating position. Also have a HBC but that's rarely used now, more for fun to plot fix from land intersects and compare with gps.
My story does show the risk of "habit" becoming focused on one source of information or a bad practice. "Human factors" affecting behaviour under stressful situations may explain how I may not have noticed the increasing depth, nor that the AP heading and compass did not agree. The HBC or hand held plotter could have quickly cleared that up. When things go wrong sometimes an initial period of "denial" can lead to diagnostic paths being ignored. With other "true" mishaps I have been involved in, I learned that slowing everything down, analysing and thinking before acting often helps with a more logical response. Then reevaluation and if necessary readjustment can be critical to a good outcome. I'm sure at one time or another we've all experienced a navigation dilemma when real world evidence is in conflict with our expectations or data supplied by the electronics. Which to believe? How to carefully diagnose the actual situation? Learning is an never ending journey.
Ps. I'll post a true confession story soon.
oceanfroggie
Well-Known Member
Ps. Link to the famous Eric Morecambe's "all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order" clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTAcbsKZlcE
It's all good but the crunch is 5m40s into the clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTAcbsKZlcE
It's all good but the crunch is 5m40s into the clip
