At my present job site the motto is 'Christopher Columbus eat your heart
out!" Think about it. Nothing but a sort of compass and a backstaff. No
idea of longitude and never mind what's on the weather channel. Today we
rely heavily on the satellite and computerized weather systems in doing
route planning. Want a good ride just download the 500 mb chart and stay 500
miles or so south of the heavy 564mb line. No weather fax? Just tune in the
right radio broadcast. On the faster ships we get warning way in advance
and just move out of the way. Slower vessels such as our sailing yachts
still get plenty of detailed warning compared to 'way back when." But you
rR\eally have to respect those early Irish, Norse, and other sailing folk
who relied on nothing more than skill and memorized stories to cross oceans.
Respect them for venturing offshore but . ......trade in my sextant for a
backstaff? No way!

M.


"Jonathan Ganz" wrote in message
...
Why do you think he would scoff at a GPS? Cell phone for sure, but
seems to me he would think the GPS is a practical device.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 13:15:33 -0700, "Jonathan Ganz"

wrote:

I would think he'd be amazed at the new technology and use
it. Don't you? .. at least the GPS and compass.

He'd laugh at the notion that having a GPS and Cell phone on board might
be
"spartan".

And I'm pretty sure Slocum had a compass - or several.

BB