Skylark
Well-Known Member
zoidberg, that’s a great post, very informative. As I’ve previously written, I did the course 1:1 with a retired Master Mariner and he drumed into me the importance of maintaining the DR log as the foundation for navigation.
The requirements for a certificate of competence for ocean passages is the responsibility of the United Nations. As a member, the UK Government meets its obligations by delegating responsibly to the MCA. The MCA oversees that the RYA syllabus meets the requirements as RYA issues YMO on behalf of MCA.
To the OP, congratulations in deriving a PL 1 mile from your known location! Using my C&P Sailing Sextant the best I’ve ever achieved on a boat was around 8 miles, however that’s good enough to keep me on track and avoid anything immovable rising out of the sea.
I’ve read the post showing the python example but for me it’s missing the point, granted I have no exclusivity on getting the point.
During end of year exams as a first year undergraduate in mechanical engineering we had to use a slide rule and/or log tables for calculations. During the second year (1976) non-programmable electronic calculators were allowed. I have fond memories of being told that my answers were wrong to 6 decimal places.
There’s a lot more to deriving a PL than crunching the numbers. Has the sextant been checked and calibrated. Have the corrections for index error, height of eye and apparent altitude been applied. Has the chronometer been calibrated. Did you take half a dozen sights and times and plot goodness of fit? Roly-poly boat syndrome.
For me it’s a very enjoyable process and my personal acknowledgement and gratitude to the mathematicians and navigators of a long bygone age. The sight reduction process gives you something to do and exercises the little grey cells during a passage. I recon the founders would be turning in their graves at the thought of using a calculator but I acknowledge that my views are not shared by many.
The requirements for a certificate of competence for ocean passages is the responsibility of the United Nations. As a member, the UK Government meets its obligations by delegating responsibly to the MCA. The MCA oversees that the RYA syllabus meets the requirements as RYA issues YMO on behalf of MCA.
To the OP, congratulations in deriving a PL 1 mile from your known location! Using my C&P Sailing Sextant the best I’ve ever achieved on a boat was around 8 miles, however that’s good enough to keep me on track and avoid anything immovable rising out of the sea.
I’ve read the post showing the python example but for me it’s missing the point, granted I have no exclusivity on getting the point.
During end of year exams as a first year undergraduate in mechanical engineering we had to use a slide rule and/or log tables for calculations. During the second year (1976) non-programmable electronic calculators were allowed. I have fond memories of being told that my answers were wrong to 6 decimal places.
There’s a lot more to deriving a PL than crunching the numbers. Has the sextant been checked and calibrated. Have the corrections for index error, height of eye and apparent altitude been applied. Has the chronometer been calibrated. Did you take half a dozen sights and times and plot goodness of fit? Roly-poly boat syndrome.
For me it’s a very enjoyable process and my personal acknowledgement and gratitude to the mathematicians and navigators of a long bygone age. The sight reduction process gives you something to do and exercises the little grey cells during a passage. I recon the founders would be turning in their graves at the thought of using a calculator but I acknowledge that my views are not shared by many.
