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Mr. Luddite[_4_]

On 1/2/2020 7:34 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 2 Jan 2020 17:48:30 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 1/2/2020 11:29 AM, wrote:
On Thu, 2 Jan 2020 07:05:19 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 1/1/2020 10:50 PM, Justan Ohlphart wrote:
Wrote in message:
On Wed, 01 Jan 2020 13:00:28 -0500, John H. wrote:On Wed, 1 Jan 2020 16:45:16 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:John H. wrote: On Tue, 31 Dec 2019 21:13:43 -0500, Alex wrote: Last night...
https://wsvn.com/news/local/several-injured-after-boat-crashes-into-jetty-near-fort-lauderdale/ Cocktails? Not every jetty shows up on a GPS. That happened a few times in Deale, MD, when folks would follow the GPS to get home. Midnight and speed. He was not going slow to get that far up the rocks
ina 42’ boat.For sure speed. Same thing happens in Deale. Going fast and taking the line offered by the GPS hasbeen the problem more than once. Everyone knows I am the real Luddite here but I fear modernelectronics is taking the place of basic seamanship and the importanceof local knowledge.

Why do you fear modern ways of navigating? If you should ever
decide to expand your horizons, you might embrace some of the
newer technology available.

I think that the advent of GPS, chart plotters and radar (if understood
and used properly) have made boating (and aviation) much safer than in
the days of compasses and paper charts.

That still doesn't mean you can avoid learning the basics of
seamanship and navigation. For a river and bay boater like me, that is
all overkill anyway. If I was trying to find a small Caribbean island
in a big ocean, I see the need but just trying to avoid a jetty or
oyster bar that may not be in the database in the first place is just
giving a false sense of security.

Don't think we were talking "seamanship". That's a wide ranging subject.

Boating with "local knowledge" really isn't celestial navigation either.

I think very few of us .... with the exception of Wayne ... really needs
to know how to navigate by the stars. Even local boating for me
was primarily local knowledge. Even on fishing trips, 30-40 miles off
shore didn't require any great navigation skills. In fact, without
GPS, it would be almost impossible to find our "secret spot" for
cod. Without GPS, I would probably be up to a half mile away.
With GPS, I could find the rise on the ocean bottom in 260 feet
of water that was our "secret spot" within a couple of yards.

If the GPS crapped out, all I really had to do is follow the
compass west. Eventually, I'd hit land.

Back in the olden days (79-80) my buddy could find his secret spot in
the Chesapeake bay just using landmarks onshore and a depth
"scratcher".
It was a 33 mile run down there from the marina.
Now it is trivial to see using google earth and a $59 GPS would put
you down on it.

37.736061
-75.934284
Then follow that cut southwest.

Difference is that my "secret spot" was 32 miles offshore from
Scituate, MA and there are no on-shore landmarks in sight.