dunedin
Well-known member
Yesterday I suddenly reflected that I had no idea of the Lat/Long numbers for where I was. Nor indeed of where I had started from. Or any of the the locations on my voyages this year. I happen to know the Lattitude of my home town - so could guess we were high 50’s N and a fair bit W. But that was it.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t find out that information. It is permanently displayed along the top of both chart plotters on board. And any of 6-7 other devices on board could tell me this. But though I refer to a lot of data on the plotter screens - TWS, TWA, Speed, SOG, COG, VMG, BTW, DTW etc, I had never noted the actual Lat/Long number.
And it wasn’t for lack of attention to navigation. I had started the day extracting myself from a rocky anchorage that no Admiralty (or Navionics) chart had details of, using Antares superb charts on iPad plus the CCC equally superb sailing directions, but pure pilotage.
After a costal passage I had then tacked upwind, needing to go outside the narrow channel avoiding many charted but unmarked hidden rocks.
In doing so again used plenty of charts for safe navigation - both plotters with vector charts, plus UKHO paper and electronic raster charts on two devices (as isolated pinnacle rocks can be tricky to spot using just Navionics). I don’t generally plot track or positions on the paper charts - unless mid ocean for morale purposes.
But at no time did I need to refer to Lat or Long. And I keep a paper “day log”, but this records location by time passing headlands, islands or even occasional navigation marks.
The last two times I can recall actually referring to Lat / Long were both over 2 years and 4,000 miles ago….
- when out of sight of land (heading out to St Kilda in slight mist) I recorded hourly Lat/Long - as much as anything to avoid boredom; and
- when responding to a mayday call and asking HMC for the casualty’s position to enter a Go-To waypoint - this incident emphasised the uselessness of HMC calling Mayday messages using only Lat/Long position. With no pen or paper at the helm these cannot be noted when first announced. It was only because I realised I could hear the casualty, a kayaker on handheld VHF, that I realised it must be nearby (3 other commercial vessels sailed on by ignoring the mayday relay).
So I guess the answer will depend very much on your sailing location (eg how much out of sight of land) and your heritage, but do you still use Lat/Long on regular basis?
It wasn’t that I couldn’t find out that information. It is permanently displayed along the top of both chart plotters on board. And any of 6-7 other devices on board could tell me this. But though I refer to a lot of data on the plotter screens - TWS, TWA, Speed, SOG, COG, VMG, BTW, DTW etc, I had never noted the actual Lat/Long number.
And it wasn’t for lack of attention to navigation. I had started the day extracting myself from a rocky anchorage that no Admiralty (or Navionics) chart had details of, using Antares superb charts on iPad plus the CCC equally superb sailing directions, but pure pilotage.
After a costal passage I had then tacked upwind, needing to go outside the narrow channel avoiding many charted but unmarked hidden rocks.
In doing so again used plenty of charts for safe navigation - both plotters with vector charts, plus UKHO paper and electronic raster charts on two devices (as isolated pinnacle rocks can be tricky to spot using just Navionics). I don’t generally plot track or positions on the paper charts - unless mid ocean for morale purposes.
But at no time did I need to refer to Lat or Long. And I keep a paper “day log”, but this records location by time passing headlands, islands or even occasional navigation marks.
The last two times I can recall actually referring to Lat / Long were both over 2 years and 4,000 miles ago….
- when out of sight of land (heading out to St Kilda in slight mist) I recorded hourly Lat/Long - as much as anything to avoid boredom; and
- when responding to a mayday call and asking HMC for the casualty’s position to enter a Go-To waypoint - this incident emphasised the uselessness of HMC calling Mayday messages using only Lat/Long position. With no pen or paper at the helm these cannot be noted when first announced. It was only because I realised I could hear the casualty, a kayaker on handheld VHF, that I realised it must be nearby (3 other commercial vessels sailed on by ignoring the mayday relay).
So I guess the answer will depend very much on your sailing location (eg how much out of sight of land) and your heritage, but do you still use Lat/Long on regular basis?