Fathoms, Feet or Metres?

[capnsensible]

I was chatting to a sailing friend last night and we alighted on the topic of depth readings. Some depth sounders have abandoned fathoms and now just give feet and metres as a display option. Is it time to dump fathoms altogether? Does anyone still use fathoms? What do you think?

Whatever floats your boat.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

I prefer Attoparsecs as a unit of depth. It confuses all the non-geeks on board.

 

[Grumpybear]

Actually yes it would have been : critical mass and all that.

How true. Critical mass leads inevitably to fission, controlled or otherwise, which is going to happen anyway in the Eurozone.

 

[Grumpybear]

We do seem to relish keeping a hotch-potch of random measurements in this realm.
We often refer to our vehicles consumption in Miles Per Gallon, but how long is it since we could buy a gallon of fuel.

I seem to recall that Parkstone Quay ferry terminal got into trouble for having a sign telling foreign drivers distances in kilometres, apparently that is illegal.

Do farmers work in Hectares or acres, definitely hectares on the Archers.

I was at college in 1967 and we were taught to work in SI Units and told that the whole country would go metric in 1969. Still waiting over 40 years later.

have you noticed that the mile marker posts on motorways have been quietly replaced by gold-on-blue kilometre marker signs? more creeping euro control.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

I prefer Attoparsecs as a unit of depth. It confuses all the non-geeks on board.

The fastest speed that I have managed in my old Centaur was half an attoparsec/microfortnight. It was in F6-7 wind and we were under only a reefed main.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

The fastest speed that I have managed in my old Centaur was half an attoparsec/microfortnight. It was in F6-7 wind and we were under only a reefed main.

Stuff all this SI nonsense. FFF is the way to go.