Do you use it.

powerskipper

powerskipper

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If you had on your boat nothing but a GPS that could give you position only, no goto or route options.

Would you?

Could you?

still go out and play?


Would you stay to local areas you know well,

with just a glance at the chart

or


would you still have the confidence to go off and explore further afield.
 
First boat only had a Garmin 12XL and paper charts / compass!
So yes: but learnt a few things the hard way...

I remember for the first few outings along the Solent going up to each buoy and stopping each time to read the writing to check that I was where I thought I was.

dv.
 
So long as I have a chart and compass I'd be happy to go out. GPS a bonus even if just position only.

Provided a proper passage plan is prepared I don't see any reason to venture off further afield. Steering an accurate course on a mobo if it's anything other than flat calm would mean a fair bit of stopping to check position, esp if in unfamiliar waters, but not a reason to stay in the marina.
 
in the old days....

How on earth did Vasco da Gama, Drake and and all those other guys venture so far afield without GPS.
 
a lot was an almost inbuilt navigation feeling, I have a book somewhere that explores this, and I know from personal experience that you do get a "feel" for things, I nearly almost alway manage to be tie up safe before bad weather hit /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I have a lot of respect for OLD SAILORS if you see what I mean, those without modern navigational aids.
 
Because for every Vasco da Gama, Drake etc. there were dozens of numpty Captains that perished alobg with their crew.

You can't beat GPS for eliminating those "Hooray Cherbourg, or is it Guernsey?" moments.

dv.
 
[ QUOTE ]
You can't beat GPS for eliminating those "Hooray Cherbourg, or is it Guernsey?" moments.

[/ QUOTE ]

. . . and taking all the excitement out of it all!

One Peyton cartoon (remember?) shows the skipper running back from the bow towards glum and weary crew and throwing his bobblecap in the air with joy; on the horizon are some murky cliffs.
Been there, done that.

Serious exploring needs some charts and a good pilot book - a resource often neglected on these pages. For if you have to ask "What happens if I turn left out of Northney" (I won't name the source) then the recommendation must be "Stay in bed"!

But I do carry a choice of courtesy flags from Germany to Portugal, just in case.
 
I started without GPS, just compass, handbearing compass and charts. Now still only use the GPS for position only, plot it on charts.
I do now have electronic charts, but have yet to really use them in anger. Not a luddite, just leccy stuff too expensive.
 
Praps I'm showing my age here but 25yrs ago some kind of instrument that showed just your position was considered a technological miracle. I started boating with a Decca receiver and it was amazing to have something which gave your position even if it was sometimes less than accurate. Then the first GPS receiver came in which still gave position only but to a better accuracy. In those days, you did your passage planning on a chart and the electronic thingy was only there as a confirmation
So, yes, I would certainly go out and play with a position instrument only. It would probably be more fun. Today's plug and play nav electronics makes it too easy
 
[ QUOTE ]
Praps I'm showing my age here. Today's plug and play nav electronics makes it too easy

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you grown a long white beard, maybe wear your hair in a pony tail with an ear ring and started wearing sandals? You sound like a miserable old fart so maybe now you look like one /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
All you need is a compass and chart. In local waters say within two hundred miles don't even need those.

[/ QUOTE ]

Firstly I will say I love my GPS. Still only using numbers - but something with a Map will no doubt turn up sooner or later. I just want to see if they catch on first /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

But interesting to see that (IME) folk who started pre GPS are more comfortable with not needing to know exactly where they are 24/7. and that's without being lost /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif or use the GPS to confirm what they already know and are going to do rather than telling them where they are and what to do next. Not to say that one approach is better than any other.......just a certain enjoyment from working stuff out myself (especially with the confirmation of GPS /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif).
 
I use my chartplotter exclusively now for route planning, though I always have a paper chart in front of me, I don't plot a course on it, I just plot where I am/have been on the paper one so it can take over if necessary.
Even so I've done more miles without GPS than with and I'd go out without hesitation without any GPS whatsoever. (assuming conditions OK etc). I did so twice last year on the old boat when I'd left the thing at home by mistake.
For those who didn't get miles under their belt without GPS you do have to wonder how they'll cope when the thing doesn't work.
 
I have GPS and charts, no plotter. Quite happy to make do with just those, but I do try and take compass bearings for confirmation and practice. One day, I s'pose I'll get a plotter, untill then what I have is enough. I would like to be able to judge distance better though!
 
Chart, Compass + compass, Paralell ruler, 2b pencil, rubber, tide atlas and bino's ... did my first 15.000 NM like that and would not hesitate to go out again..... but would limit it to no more than 1-200NM stretches...

Like to have a radar though....

GPS / Chartplotter is great but not really needed.
 
Interesting question, In the flyer 12 I always use charts with the plotter, so going back exclusively to the GPS and a compass wouldn't be too difficult. Where I do struggle using charts is on my RIB, its much more difficult when you are exposed to the elements and running at high speed often in the air between waves. I'm not saying I couldn't do it but I would think twice about going to areas that I don't know.
 
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