Jury rig?

[fisherman]

apparently not.....but as they say, everyone knows what to do with a sore arse except the bloke that's got it.
Aussie man and dog found after months stranded in ocean

There is still a mast, and I see the tiller gear at least.

 

[pmagowan]

See here:
poor planning?

 

[roaringgirl]

"Man sails without electronics"

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Electronic failure does sound a pretty weak story. I mean, the sun rises in the east, sets in the west and is due north or south halfway between the two. A small step up in difficulty is that Polaris marks north and the Southern Cross south, depending on which hemisphere you're in. Approximate latitude can be obtained from the altitude of Polaris.
Ok, it's not precise, but it's good enough to get you to a shore of some kind! That and a careful lookout should get you to a haven of some kind, even if you're not sure where you are!

 

[fisherman]

Obviously you should when using electronics write down your position every x hours in preparation for the breakdown. In the olden days for inshore day work we only had a watch and compass, slightly bigger boats would stream a log and watch the echo meter, although you had to pay for all the paper going through it.

 

[westernman]

People seem to think navigation is about knowing your position.

It isn't really. It is about knowing which way to point the boat.
And that is much easier.

 

[fisherman]

It is about knowing which way to point the boat.

Nice to know if that's towards something though

 

[Farmer Piles]

People seem to think navigation is about knowing your position.

It isn't really. It is about knowing which way to point the boat.
And that is much easier.

And handy to know where you are starting from in order to know which way to head.

 

[Praxinoscope]

I would also consider that if crossing an ocean an epirb might be a sensible piece of kit to carry?

 

[dunedin]

Obviously you should when using electronics write down your position every x hours in preparation for the breakdown

When doing an Atlantic crossing I took a battery backup device for my phone. Mainly as wanted to use as music player when on watch, but I was also confident that in the event of ship electrical failure, even if the phone was flat the battery booster would have enough power to do daily GPS position checks plus hourly on the final day.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Nice to know if that's towards something though

And even nicer to know it's away from danger!

 

[fisherman]

I remember looking for gear, 40 minutes SE of the Ten Mile Buoy, which was about four miles off Coverack, ten m S of Falmouth. Thick fog, but we found one end end and from that the other three. 24ft boat, only had a rudimentary echo sounder. I'm sure if we had radar we would have been more nervous to see what was near us.
Another occasion we were W of the lizard in fog, dark, the skipper took us to Falmouth, never saw a thing. Watch, compass, sounder. We had a radio, but it was a 'big set', and could flatten the battery in a few minutes transmission.
In the 90s I was hailed by a yacht for a position, which was three nm SE of Lizard, thick fog, he had come from Ireland by DR. Fortunately he was headed for Falmouth. He was quite pleased.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Heading for Ramsay, Isle of Man, by DR. If you arrived at overfalls you were way to far north and have missed the IOM entirely. If you arrived at a long sandy beach, head south a bit. If you arrive at cliffs, turn north. If you arrived at what looks like a big ferris wheel tell the crew you changed your mind and decided on Laxey.

 

[William_H]

As is so often the case with stories in the media. Much is not told and often there is a spin to the story. Plus of course the story was broken only from the rescue boat. As posters have said he parhaps could have been more inventive or more prepared. It seems there are all sorts of sailors out there. ol'will

 

[Wansworth]

Fog on the Galician coast I hailed a fishing boat and asked in clear plain English “where is Vivero?”……….to which he pointed in the direction I was headed….