In article , Jeff wrote:
Capt. Rob wrote:
How many of you rely on your GPS without consulting charts these days?
How many of you back that up by using a handheld compass?
No judgements, and I'm sure some will get on a high horse after lying
about it. Just curious.


My GPS is a very early handheld mapping unit (GPSMap 175) which
provides limited charting info, assuming I have the chart chip. I
always have a paper chart on deck and consider that my primary tool.

I'm thinking about getting the new small Garmin that has NEXRAD
updates and can also be used in a car, but the screen is still pretty
small so I doubt it will replace paper charts. BTW, my boat is wired
for computer charting, and I have software and charts, but I never
felt comfortable relying on it. A close friend, who is a
traditionalist in many other ways, has his autopilot driven by the
computer.

I hardly ever use a handbearing compass nowadays, but I used to use it
a lot before GPS. I do use soundings frequently to double check
positions. Also, when I travel outside of home waters, I often have
dividers and sometimes parallel rules on deck.

As for Notice to Mariners, I subscribe to the local edition and read
it weekly, though I don't update charts.

Do you get your via their email service? It's nice... I just print the
sections that apply to where I'm going, then I update the paper chart
in pencil the night before. When something changes, I make the change
or erase the notation as necessary.


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