Do you still use a Hand Bearing Compass

[LONG_KEELER]

I expect with Lat and Long for buoys and chart plotters, they are being used less.

Or are they ?

Where do you still use them.

 

[NormanS]

Haven't used one for years. It's sitting there, in its bracket, ready.
Mind you, it's a while since I used my astrolabe either.

 

[[70521]]

I use them

I have one for the boat and one for the mountain.

 

[Georgio]

I used mine the weekend before last, but that was the first time in a while.

 

[prv]

Until a couple of years ago, I still used to occasionally plot 3-point fixes. Just for practice, essentially, or something to do, or to demonstrate to a beginner who was interested in navigation. Not for a while though.

What I do regularly use the hand compass for is looking for things. If I'm looking for a particular buoy, I'll pick the bearing off the chart (Yeoman makes this dead easy) and then look across the compass in the right direction to try to spot the distant mark. Similar if I'm looking for a particular harbour, river mouth, etc - which of the line of hills / headlands is it behind? Take a bearing from the chart, see where it points to on the land. The "looking for a buoy" idea is even more important at night in a busy place like the Solent - with things winking on and off all round you it's tricky to find the right one unless you can look down the right bearing and then count the flashes to confirm.

I do wonder if my new glasses are affecting it though. Was looking out for the Southwest Shingles as we came back from Poole on Sunday and the card was swinging very strangely.

Pete

 

[Evadne]

I use it for navigation, the gps is usually used as a back-up, or to confirm SWMBO's suspicion that my ETA is overly optimistic.

 

[KenMcCulloch]

I use it regularly to assess collision risk.

 

[sailorman]

I expect with Lat and Long for buoys and chart plotters, they are being used less.

Or are they ?

Where do you still use them.

yes i have a autohelm personal compass ( why did they ever stop making them ) i use for ship tracking mainly

 

[Simondjuk]

I use one quite a lot. Collision risk assessment, back bearings, clearing lines, navigation mark and landmark identification when not immediately apparent, fixes. I've also got a pair of binos with a compass which are equally as well used. I like to look at the real world position of things rather than rely too heavily on the GPS.

 

[Roberto]

I regularly use it for collision risk, especially at night (not sure why)


I usually speak the bearing out loud, otherwise if I just keep it in my mind I forget it 9 out of 10 times

 

[Twister_Ken]

I use it regularly to assess collision risk.

+1

 

[VicS]

I use it regularly to assess collision risk.

I think probably used more for that any any other purpose. Always within reach but usually in the cockpit at night on channel crossings.

Not used for position fixing since first having Decca I don't think.

 

[prv]

back bearings, clearing lines

Good point, I do those occasionally too, though not as often as identifying stuff.

Pretty rare for me to use them for collision avoidance, as the big stuff in the Solent is turning too much for the technique to be useful, and the only other place I get close to shipping is the mid-Channel lanes where I tend to use AIS (and the unaided eyeball too).

All in all, I definitely get enough use out of the compass and the binos (with their own compass in) that I'll be including dedicated holders on the backs of my new cockpit pods when I get round to building them.

Pete

 

[Woodlouse]

I mostly use it for finding marks after taking a bearing off the chart.

I rarely use it for collision avoidance, instead I just line the ship up with a stanchion or shroud and work from that.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Yep, still essential kit on my yacht, for all the reasons mentioned above.

 

[jerrytug]

Yes of course,and it lives on a string round my neck. I would not get under way without it.
Do they work on steel yachts I often wonder?
To me that would be a major disadvantage to a steel yacht.

 

[NDG]

All the time for picking out bouys and marks etc. Occasionally for collision avoidance. If you go to the Channel islands it and the transit are pretty much the primary means of navigation for picking out passages, clearing bearings, back bearings etc. Much more interesting than gps.

 

[jac]

Still use 1. Really feel uncomfortable without one

 

[AMCD300]

Yes.

But then I am not 'experienced' enough to think I can do a three-point fix without one...

 

[agurney]

I expect with Lat and Long for buoys and chart plotters, they are being used less.

Or are they ?

Where do you still use them.

Regularly; last time was when the leading marks through Loch Tarbert in Jura were shrouded in fog.