no ships compass - am I silly?

[LadyInBed]

Electrics Out, at night in dense fog ; now try handling tiller against the torque of the engine with one hand, holding a compass up to the eye,

Thats what, among other things, you were given a crotch for! Ideal for controlling a tiller and it helps to steady you whilst taking a bearing

casting a lead ( spanner ) line & judging the depth while trimming the sails & keeping a lookout, in thick fog at night...

Who would want to do all that at once? Surely, given all those conditions, if it is shallow enough to cast a lead you would stop sailing (and motoring according to your scenario) and just anchor so you can get your Tilly / candle lamp hoisted and sound your fog horn

Merry Christmas BTW !

and to you.

 

[Captain Haddock]

My recently acquired boat didn't come with a compass! When I was bringing the boat home it felt naked not having a compass and relying on the GPS/Hand bearing compass.

So guess who got a nice bulkhead mounted Contest 101 for Christmas!! :-D

Wouldn't be without a compass I also have a trailing log and lead line just in case - I just don't trust electronics maybe it's because I work in IT!

 

[Dockhead]

I'd rather like a main steering compass and consider going on any boat larger than a tender ( and I do have a compass on the tender ! ) without one unseamanlike.

At the risk of stirring up the trolls: +1!

And by the way, Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[Woodlouse]

I carry a steering compass and two hand held's and a pair of binos with an inbuilt compass. Plus a lead line, a towing log. Also my inboard log is mechanical with the only electrics on it being a light. I also have a GPS + handheld, laptop chart plotter with it's own GPS, depth sounder and a VHF.

All of these stay either in their box or turned off below when I'm coastal sailing. I'll have a chart in the cockpit if I'm in unfamiliar waters. Thats about it.

It's nice to know it's all there though and at various times I've used all of it. However, if my sailing was purely ditch crawling along rivers, and if my boat was shallow I probably wouldn't be too worried about going out without any of the aforementioned equipment.

 

[Seajet]

Thats what, among other things, you were given a crotch for! Ideal for controlling a tiller and it helps to steady you whilst taking a bearing

Who would want to do all that at once? Surely, given all those conditions, if it is shallow enough to cast a lead you would stop sailing (and motoring according to your scenario) and just anchor so you can get your Tilly / candle lamp hoisted and sound your fog horn

and to you.

Lady in Bed,

I can assure you my boat's tiller has seen plenty of action from my crotch, sadly, mainly for steering !

If you read my original post, I did indeed head into shallow water & anchor, with a trusty battery anchor light I was quite sure no fishing boat at max trundle speed would see...

 

[CalmSkipper]

The electronics are definately going to go at some time. It's only a question of when

 

[LadyInBed]

If you read my original post,

Yes, I missed the original post, but it looks like we concur with what we would do though.

 

[VicS]

I assume the compass is worth more than the slug

D

Not by a vast sum... surprising http://www.robinsdocksideshop.com/Brass_binnacle.htm

 

[Conachair]

In a bar once with some cruisers somewhere very much hotter than here...

None, me included though I had a vague idea, knew the magnetic variation. All would know exactly how it works and would have had it onboard, but no one had a clue off the top of their heads, was something like 20deg as well.

Compass doesn't get used as much as it used to...

 

[Applescruffs]

Just a thought.....

Just a thought.....Dylan has probably spent more time on his boat and sailed more sea miles in the past three years than the lot of us put together, I stand to be corrected of course, and wait for someone to rise to the bait :¬).....without; getting lost, being late, missing a tide, hitting anything in the fog, running aground,(unintentionally) , battling monsters from the deep or otherwise making a complete Horlicks of the whole thing ...and all without the use of a compass....Dylan's navigation secret is...."keep the land to the left... and keep the sea to the right"...that's the mantra that is... 'Keep Turning Left".... how hard can it be ???.

The original question was...does Dylan need a compass or is he just being silly....If you have ever met him part two of the question is obvious....part one?...I think he's proved he doesn't, and in truth not many of us 'coast huggers do either..

Just a thought..

As for the Garage......it's doing fine....last seen off the Seychelles......at 5 knots.....heading south.......(ish !)

 

[tonybannister]

My 30 footer has just had a Christmas present of 2 x replacement compasses for each side of the companionway. Did I need them.
Mounted between them is a chartplotter.
Steering is done by an autohelm
In my right pocket is a hand held GPS
In my left pocket is a hand held compass
My Samsung Galaxy tab has a Navionics Chart plotter and AIS app
I have charts but never enough

So there I was trying to clean up the 30 year old crazed compasses with no oil in them and wifey asked what the hell I was doing. When I tried to explain I was trying to save money she ordered and paid for them as a Christmas present and told me not to be silly.

Was she right ? Navigation is the art of getting as much information from as many places as you can and then making important decisions based on the knowledge you have accumulated. Most of my sailing has been done with minimal navigation aids - I know which I prefer.

 

[planteater]

Silva 70 UN on my small (but marginally bigger then el Slug) boat. Doubles up as a hand bearing or steering compass.

I do use it on occasions but only for fun and to keep my hand in - handheld GPS get used more.