Handbearing compass

[ctva]

Stemar beat me to it as I was reading down the thread.

Like a fire extinguisher, emergency VHF aerial and probably (like me) a tool box with tools just in case, you need it for when the poo hits the fan.

I used it quite a few times while i was out for three weeks mainly to identify features. I also have a bino compass which is very useful also to get bearings to identify stuff on the chart plotter. Never use it for anchoring as I just use transits.

 

[Gary Fox]

Compass binos are large unwieldy objects, you need two hands really. They use up a lot of attention, because you need to hold them carefully to your eyes, and focus on a narrow image, and it is hard to identify a ship from a group, because it is out of context, everything looks different to the naked eye 'big picture' and the magnification, on many or most occasions, is likely to be a hindrance.
An HBC can dangle on a bit of string, ready for instant one-handed use, it takes five seconds from start to finish, to get a bearing on which you can base life-and-death decisions.
HBC's are cleverly thought out, with big clear numbers and needles suitably damped for getting a snap shot. They are brilliant devices. Most have some attempt at luminosity and the modern ones are equally good day or night.
There is no other device which does so much for 50 quid.

 

[jimi]

I think when crossing busy shipping lanes by the time you decide to monitor by hand bearing compass it’s getting late to take appropriate action cos it’s often not a single ship but a batch of them. Prior to ais I found radar to be most effective with a bearing line on north up mode. With ais it becomes a lot simpler although not without challenges

 

[ctva]

Wait till the poles reverse, that'll be fun!!

 

[Gary Fox]

It’s a good method but only works if you’ve got a good autopilot or a good helm holding a steady course. Once you’ve altered course you have the start again whereas the bearing from a hbc carries on telling you if you’re now passing clear or not.

Steady course and speed on both vessels can't ever be guaranteed.

 

[Gary Fox]

I think when crossing busy shipping lanes by the time you decide to monitor by hand bearing compass it’s getting late to take appropriate action cos it’s often not a single ship but a batch of them. Prior to ais I found radar to be most effective with a bearing line on north up mode. With ais it becomes a lot simpler although not without challenges

'By the time you decide..' Why not start out with using your HBC...then it won't be too late!

 

[jimi]

'By the time you decide..' Why not start out with using your HBC...then it won't be too late!

Because you can’t see them as they are below the horizon if you want to avoid slaloming through a big batch.

 

[25931]

In my delivery days an hbc was part of my personal kit.

Use mine often but I don’t have ais or binoculars with compass so it’s my go to bit of kit

Pl

I take a bearing on prominent lighthouses to check the chartplotter.

I take a bearing because I don´t have a plotter, only a chart.

 

[johnalison]

Compass binos are large unwieldy objects, you need two hands really. They use up a lot of attention, because you need to hold them carefully to your eyes, and focus on a narrow image, and it is hard to identify a ship from a group, because it is out of context, everything looks different to the naked eye 'big picture' and the magnification, on many or most occasions, is likely to be a hindrance.
An HBC can dangle on a bit of string, ready for instant one-handed use, it takes five seconds from start to finish, to get a bearing on which you can base life-and-death decisions.
HBC's are cleverly thought out, with big clear numbers and needles suitably damped for getting a snap shot. They are brilliant devices. Most have some attempt at luminosity and the modern ones are equally good day or night.
There is no other device which does so much for 50 quid.

My thoughts exactly. I still have a mini compass from when we started cruising in the ‘70s, though its beta light hasn’t worked for a long time. I can’t say that I have used it much this century other than as an exercise on passing ships. My old charts still show traces of the lines I drew from bearings off the Normandy coast, when working out one’s position from the churches ashore was essential, especially when approaching Courseulles. I still wouldn’t want to be without such a simple and reliable instrument.

 

[Beelzebub]

A hand bearing compass is useful in monitoring the relative speed of competitors when you are racing.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

I like low tech when sailing. It's more fun.

 

[Roberto]

The HBC can also tell you when AIS is not working correctly, or at least put that little seed of doubt which makes one double check

 

[john_morris_uk]

Because you can’t see them as they are below the horizon if you want to avoid slaloming through a big batch.

If they're not in sight, IRPCS don't apply. Altering to pass close astern of it leaves you clear of the next ones. We must live in different worlds as in multiple channel crossings, I only occasionally have to alter course to comply with IRPCS. The hand bearing compass gets used a lot (but a lot less now that we have AIS)

 

[jimi]

If they're not in sight, IRPCS don't apply. Altering to pass close astern of it leaves you clear of the next ones. We must live in different worlds as in multiple channel crossings, I only occasionally have to alter course to comply with IRPCS. The hand bearing compass gets used a lot (but a lot less now that we have AIS)

No , we’re in the same world. All I’m saying is I gave myself an easy life when crossing by making a small course alteration very very early to avoid. Of course with ais margins of safety can be so much smaller.

 

[capnsensible]

Use them a lot. Simple, easy, reliable and can generate lots of useful information. Why not?

 

[RivalRedwing]

Used one only last week to confirm the identity of a mark. It was this model though so don't know if it counts, although it's the most accurate compass I've ever used

only when you are moving...

 

[dunedin]

I take a bearing on prominent lighthouses to check the chartplotter.

And how many times in the last decade have you discovered the chart plotter is wrong, as a result of this check?
Never, perchance?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

While I agree that a hand held compass should be carried as a backup navigational instrument, the emphasis on collision avoidance seems wrong to me. It's too insensitive for that; I line up the target with objects on the boat, which I find much more sensitive. The very best hand bearing compass used from the unsteady platform of a boat is going to be accurate to a degree or so; my eye with appropriate sighting lines is much more accurate. The moon is half a degree across; it's easy to see angular changes much less than the width of the moon. The eye is a very accurate estimator of angles; it only lacks an absolute reference. Remedy that with sighting lines, and it's much more sensitive than a compass.

 

[penfold]

I have binos with a compass, but when fully opened the compass is at such a silly angle that it is pretty useless.

Your head is mounted on a gimbal.

 

[Daydream believer]

Your head is mounted on a gimbal.

Will not work.
Not sure if this is true but I am told that there are 2 styles of binos. Asian & european. Asians have the lenses closer together as their eyes are closer together than europeans ( that is not being racist or anything it is an observed fact)
Europeans need binos with a wider viewing space between the 2 parts. I was given the binos as a prezzie & to use them I have to have them at maxm width. Made in Japan. This tilts the compass at 45 degrees to the horizontal. So that means that I have to tilt the binoculars & look through 1 lens with the other over my forehead.
Might be handy to have a third eye, but then I would have to stick the other lens up my bum.
So putting my head on gimbals would not work as the compass would always be at 45 degrees to my eye