if GPS were not available

[electrosys]

If coastal, a compass and the Mk.1 eyeball.

If offshore, then a LW radio, watch, graph paper, and sunrise & sunset data. Used together, will give an approx Lat and Long. A sextant would be a bonus.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Chart and a pencil (use the pointy end).

OK, I've sharpened my chart. What next?

 

[lenten]

"visions of dell boy asking for directions at oil rig"---years ago---nimitz anchored outside portsmouth harbour---foggy night---i was trawling off bembridge i o w ---out of the fog at great speed appeared a landing craft full of american sailors---charged up alongside---threw the engines into reverse and stopped dead---cartoon character coxswain---huge cigar clamped in mouth----is this the way for portsmouth?----no you re heading for france--portsmouth is---i point in general direction---thanks buddy---theatrical thrust of twin levers in gear --full speed u/turn and disappeared into fog

 

[G12]

Loran C - It's still running as far as I know.
Hand bearing compass, Chart, Pencil, RDF set, Sounder..... all the good stuff!

I have become lazy with my navigation since GPS but I have resisted the chart plotter thus far. I still use paper charts every trip and plot the position hourly so I'm not as rusty as some.

 

[Coaster]

Charts... and a Yeoman plotter...

Would there be any significant advantages of a Yeoman plotter if there were no GPS available? I appreciate that bearings, and lat & long of waypoints etc., could be slightly quicker to obtain than by using a pencil and Breton plotter or ruler. But the principal advantage of the Yeoman, i.e. instant identification of current position, disappears if GPS fails.

 

[PeteCooper]

What would your next best indispensible aid to navigation be?

Breadcrumbs to sprinkle behind me so that I can find my way home.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Loran C - It's still running as far as I know.
Hand bearing compass, Chart, Pencil, RDF set, Sounder..... all the good stuff!

I have become lazy with my navigation since GPS but I have resisted the chart plotter thus far. I still use paper charts every trip and plot the position hourly so I'm not as rusty as some.

Haven't the RDF beacons been switched off? (not sure on this one, as I haven't had an RDF on board for lots of years!)

I sailed well before GPS was even a twinkle in the eye, so have lots of practical experience of trad nav..... but am honest enough to admit that, while I could definitely still do it if needed, it would nowadays be a somewhat slower exercise, and the anxiety levels might be a bit raised upon landfall!

I do occasionally plot a DR when doing a Nth sea passage, but usually use GPS to actually nav... its been a while...

 

[jimi]

My first few channel crossings were GPS less, I used to plan in great detail to get the exact overall offset based on various passage speeds. Usually took us in through the door. Also went at night so I could see the various lights, You tend to pick up Barfleur and Alderney just as St Kats drops off.

With GPS I stll passage plan but not to the same extent.

 

[FullCircle]

In my local area of East Coast.

Chart
High Tide Dover.
Tidal Stream Atlas PL259
Wind speed and direction(approx)
Compass
Depth measurement system.

Toilet Paper for when I get the depth wrong.

 

[peterb]

Charts... and a Yeoman plotter.... wet finger for wind speed and direction..

done me alright..

Doesn't the Yeoman use GPS?

Maybe the right electronic answer is e-Loran, if only the powers-that-be would make their minds up. Much less easy to jam than GPS.

 

[FullCircle]

Doesn't the Yeoman use GPS?

Maybe the right electronic answer is e-Loran, if only the powers-that-be would make their minds up. Much less easy to jam than GPS.

My first Yeoman used Decca.....

 

[jimi]

My first Yeoman used Decca.....

Based on yer appearance i would have thought your first yoeman would have used a longbow, and the second a musket .. but I digress ...

 

[Baggy]

Would there be any significant advantages of a Yeoman plotter if there were no GPS available? I appreciate that bearings, and lat & long of waypoints etc., could be slightly quicker to obtain than by using a pencil and Breton plotter or ruler. But the principal advantage of the Yeoman, i.e. instant identification of current position, disappears if GPS fails.

Good point.. coaster... ahem.. one that I will try to answer.... ( note to myself..why dont I keep my mouth shut )
Its just that with a Yeoman I regularly plotting my course on paper.. as apposed to an electronic thingamybob


Thats it really....

 

[FullCircle]

Based on yer appearance i would have thought your first yoeman would have used a longbow, and the second a musket .. but I digress ...

No Jim, my first was a Danish Mercenary Pikey made redundant from Dover Castle.....

 

[FullCircle]

Good point.. coaster... ahem.. one that I will try to answer.... ( note to myself..why dont I keep my mouth shut )
Its just that with a Yeoman I regularly plotting my course on paper.. as apposed to an electronic thingamybob


Thats it really....

Good attempt, but sometimes less is more (or no reply at all)

 

[Evadne]

Breadcrumbs to sprinkle behind me so that I can find my way home.

Trouble is that they get eaten by the pidgeons

 

[macd]

Thar were lucky. We ad te eat our pidgeon when we was maroooooned on Dogger Bank.

That'd be Walter Pidgeon, then?

 

[Alfie168]

As an avid reader of Tintin in my youth I thought Prof.Calculus's pendulum was an inafallible method of direction finding. Are you telling me it doesn't work

Tim

 

[jimi]

As an avid reader of Tintin in my youth I thought Prof.Calculus's pendulum was an inafallible method of direction finding. Are you telling me it doesn't work

Tim

It definitely does work, though perhaps not in the way you might expect;-)

 

[Wandering Star]

EPIRB. Whenever I get lost (often) I just fire up the EPIRB and some chaps in an orange boat come and point me in the right direction.

Cheers, Brian.