Around 7/27/2007 8:42 AM, Chuck Gould wrote:

I'm writing a short item this morning about hand held bearing
compasses.

I carry one on my boat, and could find it in an instant. I suspect,
however, that in this age of electro-nav gimmicks I'm now in the
minority.

Three questions:

1. Do you carry a bearing compass?

When camping, haven't ever carried one when boating. Both Commando and
Blue-Boat have hard-mounted compasses.


2. Whether you carry one or not, do you know why anybody would want
to?

Of course.


3. Do you have any charts aboard, or are you running depending
strictly on an uninterrupted supply of DC power and counting on 100%
reliability from your electronics for navigation information?

Yes to paper charts.

The only navigation gizmo on either boat is a Garmin eTrex that takes 2
AA batteries and doesn't have any mapping capability. I only use it for
lat/long, speed, and marking where I've dropped a crab pot.



--
~/Garth - 1966 Glastron V-142 Skiflite: "Blue-Boat"
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats." -- Kenneth Grahame
~~ Ventis secundis, tene cursum ~~