Removing the compass

[lustyd]

Yes I realise that, and I really don't care what he thinks. The simple truth is that it makes no difference anywhere on the south coast or even crossing the channel. If others want to try to sound clever and do lots of unnecessary work then I say live and let live

 

[doug748]

PS

61 posts and no halfwit has said "luddite" or "dinosaur"

Guinness book of Records job.







(till me of course ? )
.

 

[lustyd]

If you don't use it get rid but I would ship one of these instead, plus a place to fix it if it were needed:

Yes I did think of a slightly smaller yet still "big" compass, but realised that as an emergency device it makes no real difference since it's almost certainly never going to be used so a hand bearing compass is sufficient for the job and already lives at the chart table so easy to find and use. It's not like we're talking a week of use here, more like the last 6 hours of a channel crossing to make sure I'm consistently heading north.

 

[lustyd]

61 posts and no halfwit has said "luddite" or "dinosaur"

To be fair a compass isn't all that outdated so probably not applicable here. Also everyone (almost) has been quite civil and understood both sides of the argument.

 

[johnalison]

, and in practice I'm sure this is the way many if not most people do it these days.

I'm not saying that I don't believe you, but can this really be true? Do people in charge of boats actually leave the Needles and set their waypoint for Cherbourg and steer the GPS course for that?

 

[lustyd]

Why would they not? It makes almost no difference to the journey at all.

 

[laika]

Yes I realise that, and I really don't care what he thinks. The simple truth is that it makes no difference anywhere on the south coast or even crossing the channel. If others want to try to sound clever and do lots of unnecessary work then I say live and let live

Don't get me wrong: I'm firmly in the "course to steer" camp, only use COG to alert me to how good/bad my current estimates were and would always teach/advise people to do what I do. But your boat, your rules. We do this for fun and how much effort each of us wants to put into the various aspects of sailing, i.e. navigation, sail trim or whatever is our choice.

Do people in charge of boats actually leave the Needles and set their waypoint for Cherbourg and steer the GPS course for that?

Well I certainly don't but as I regularly say here, I enjoy "navigation" more than most. We could try a poll but I suspect there's:
- people who don't know (or have forgotten) how to calculate a CTS
- people who do know but can't be bothered
- people who think they should use a CTS, in practice can't be bothered (or have forgotten how), but wouldn't like to admit it.
- people who do it properly ;-)

I think I once calculated the additional time of following BTW rather than CTS on a cross channel solent - cherbourg (for a number of assumptions half way between springs and neaps) and it was less than I had assumed: half an hour-ish on a 12 hour trip?

EdIt: (sorry to lustyd for sidetracking this into CTS thread territory)

 

[lustyd]

You forgot people who do know, but realise it's a waste of time because the juice isn't worth the squeeze. Just like great circle routes, they have their place and usually that's the classroom. I'd also bet my boat that the cumulitive time saved crossing the channel using "proper" CTS over the years is significantly less than the time lost when people have gotten their sums wrong!

Sometimes I do enjoy a bit of navigation, and I'm with you there. As a separate hobby it can be fun, just like astro nav. I have also sailed in places where I certainly would pay more attention to it, but the south coast and channel is not one of them

 

[lustyd]

half an hour-ish on a 12 hour trip

I suspect it's considerably less than that on a moden plotter that understands wind. Doggedly following a course to steer on a sailing boat is rarely an efficient passage. I'd even suggest it might go the other way on my B&G and I'd be quicker.

 

[laika]

You forgot people who do know, but realise it's a waste of time because the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

I think that's covered by:

- people who do know but can't be bothered

"Can't be bothered" wasn't intended to be a value judgement, it simply covered people who believe that benefits are not worth the effort input

 

[lustyd]

Yes fair point, although I feel that choosing not to do something because it doesn't need to be done is a bit different than assuming it does need to be done because it's taught that way but thinking it's not worth the effort. I certainly choose not to because I know it isn't necessary. Like ironing shirts, I choose not to do it because I don't need or want my shirt ironed, I don't start with the premise that it should be ironed.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

You're one in a million! But we knew that already.

Two in a million. I swung mine last year.

 

[Kerenza]

to answer the original question, I have removed my fixed plastimo for the same reason. (yours for a reasonable price).
Its replacement is a fully swung integrated electronic display, with heading sensor, similar to your proposal. This can be rotated and seen from any where in the cockpit, very useful when the autohelm is in charge. I only ever use true bearings for my calcs anyway.
However, as a backup you cant beat the silva universal with led light. I have mounted it where it can be seen while helming and it makes an excellent hand bearing unit.