What do you want a navigator to do?

What I learnt to never do, or be tempted to do, is indicating a precise arrival time. Learnt the hard way with my then young daughters; "you said we'd arrive by 1600, why are we not there yet?". Now I only say "we are X miles away, make your own calculations". They understood very quickly the vagaries of Time = Space / Speed :)
 
Roberto said:
What I learnt to never do, or be tempted to do, is indicating a precise arrival time. Learnt the hard way with my then young daughters; "you said we'd arrive by 1600, why are we not there yet?". Now I only say "we are X miles away, make your own calculations". They understood very quickly the vagaries of Time = Space / Speed :)
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Never mind ETA accuracy. Sailing boats may never arrive at their purported destination at all. This is why you should only ever say you’re sailing towards XXXXX
 
Roberto said:
What I learnt to never do, or be tempted to do, is indicating a precise arrival time. Learnt the hard way with my then young daughters; "you said we'd arrive by 1600, why are we not there yet?". Now I only say "we are X miles away, make your own calculations". They understood very quickly the vagaries of Time = Space / Speed :)
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👍👍👍
Not really joking, a calendar can be one of the most dangerous things you can have on a boat. People have died trying to be somewhere for a flight or whatever. 😥. Listen to the boat & the universe to figure out what the best thing to do is there and then imho. ignore the past & the future.
As for planning... best seen as wonderous stories we make up involving nice things which might come to pass as opposed to kidding yourself you have any kind of significant control of the future.
I'd want a navigator who is more interested about where we aren't (like near a reef, lee shore etc) than where we are and isn't in a rush. 😎
 
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capnsensible said:
Just fib. Estimate your arrival time. Add a bit according to the length of the voyage. Give this time to the crew and watch their faces light up with glee when you arrive 'early'......
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I do the opposite. I might say "we should be there in a couple of hours" in the hope that they will remain reasonably cheerful while we slog our way through conditions that seem to be forever working against us.
 
I like to have a plan as to where I hope to go / arrive but this does and can alter. It is discussed with others on board and my regular crew knew to let me know if the weren't happy with conditions. One year we aimed for the West Country but ended up in the CI's as dictated by the winds and seas. Another time I was hoping to do Studland to Falmouth in one 'bash' but we ended up at Dartmouth, again due to the wind; feeling shattered.
 
My other half navs when we cruise, usually to a rough passage plan we’ve worked out together the night before. We mainly sail on the shallow Easy coast, so my main priority is some good intel on where / what time the deep water is, particularly at the port of arrival. I also usually ask her to have a plan of any marina or harbour handy so if we’re given a berth we have a clue where it might be.
 
And now for something completely different: Dinghy Navigation. Well, not as different as some might think. For planning, the usual, as per SOLAS: Appraisal, Planning, Execution, and Monitoring. The skipper is always the navigator and likes paper charts for appraisal as it seems easier to get an overall impression of the passage. Under way, the chart is laminated or in a clear waterproof chart case and can be drawn on with a china marker.

Execution and monitoring of the passage depend less upon knowing exactly where I am than on knowing where I am not. Pre-plotted clearance bearings, danger circles, and transits keep me safe in pilotage waters, monitored by binoculars with built-in compass and range finder. This is much easier when I have crew; singlehanded, I often heave-to to get my hand off the tiller for a minute. A combination of old-fashioned dead reckoning and an occasional glance at the tiny screen of my handheld Garmin GPSmap plotter suffice on open-water passages. I always have crew when offshore, but sheet-to-tiller steering is a project for next year.
 
I like the nav to tell me where s/he thinks we are. From their nice comfy seat out of the wind and rain confirm that we are not to close to the hard pointy bits in a tight channel. Provide coffee and coco when needed, and enjoy a dram/beer/gin/wine in port. I discovered in East Cowes this summer you can get alcoholic pineapple juice from Lilley's Cider quite refreshing, if a little 'chemical' in taste.

I get really annoyed when crewing when the skipper/nav does not share where they think we are, but those sorts are usually skippers who do everything on an iPod that needs to be prized from their frozen hands as the grab 30 seconds sleep after being awake for 72 hours. I often wonder if it is worth investing in one of those tables from visitmyharbour for delivery trips.

A long time ago a lovely mathematics teacher suggested that trial and improvement was the way to go - I finally understood how to do my sums correctly after a lot of trial and improvement.
 
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I have found ETAs really help, of course with changes as needed but usually if the conditions are right for sailing at all then using the most up to date forecast we can make a good estimate and change it slightly as we go. Usually somethimg has to go very wrong to vary it by more than an hour or two worse. More often we are early as my navigator is quite conservative. That makes all the planning from customs opening times to eating on board or not much easier.

Its been 5 years since a ”towards” actually meant going somewhere different, and that was a real howler with us ending up over 500 nm from our planned destination in a completely different direction.
 
RupertW said:
I have found ETAs really help, of course with changes as needed but usually if the conditions are right for sailing at all then using the most up to date forecast we can make a good estimate and change it slightly as we go. Usually somethimg has to go very wrong to vary it by more than an hour or two worse. More often we are early as my navigator is quite conservative. That makes all the planning from customs opening times to eating on board or not much easier.

Its been 5 years since a ”towards” actually meant going somewhere different, and that was a real howler with us ending up over 500 nm from our planned destination in a completely different direction.
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By contrast we regularly end up executing not Plan A, B or C - but Plan G and arriving somewhere we hadn’t even thought of on departure. Very rarely regret the change of plan. The fact that Scottish winds tend to ignore forecasts, and that amongst the islands we have so many great alternatives within short distances, are two major factors.
 
Ideal:
Gather necessary info: charts, pilot books, weather forecast all up to date
Plan approx course taking into account above to avoid hazards or if impossible eg shipping lane crossing, then approx time of encounter and what to do
Assist in pilotage out of wherever to passage
Monitor achievement vs plan
Redo the plan in view of circumstances
Remembering Von Moltke.

Eg the time we planned for the West country and ended up in Honfleur via Brighton, Fecamp and Le Havre as the wind was all wrong.
 
In the days before Satnav let alone GPS, if I were given the short straw labelled "navigator" I made a point of sticking my head out of the companion hatch, looking slowly and carefully round the horizon, and then quoting "The Pirates of Penzance" - "What a pleasant spot! I wonder where we are!"

An aunt and uncle were married for sixty years; my aunt said that she was never more impressed by her husband than when, in 1920, halfway across the North Sea in his ex-smack, he announced "We should see the Westkappelle high light in about an hour", and an hour later, there it was!
 
I'm owner, skipper and Navigator on my own boat but there's rarely more than two of us onboard.
Last time I was pressganged to 'navigate' another boat was several years ago on a Sunsail boat in the RTI race where my primary role was to get as close to any rocks or sandbanks as possible without hitting anything.
We were 2nd, annoyingly, I think I was making tea at a critical moment sadly.
 
14K478 said:
I expect the Navigator to do, or rather not do, one thing.

Do not put any part of the boat in contact with any solid part of this planet.

That's it.
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I absolutely expect the navigator to put us in contact with a solid part of this planet - via ropes and fenders or anchor rode at the end of our trip

Sorry :)
 
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