wrote in message . ..
On 3 Aug 2003 14:08:47 -0700, (Jim Woodward)
wrote:


you've improved your chances in many emergencies.

GPS is a blessing and a danger. IMHO the most important single thing
you can do to make GPS use safer is to plot every course on a paper
chart, lay out range and bearing on each leg with dividers and
protractor or parallels, then punch the waypoint locations into the
GPS. If the GPS doesn't come up with the same range and bearing on
each leg, you've made a mistake. And, of course, don't trust the
chart, as they are often wrong.

Jim Woodward
www.mvfintry.com

Very true. Charts are not only occasionally wrong, but must be kept
current as per Notices to Mariners (or whatever the charting authority
in your nation issues). The marine environment and man's activities on
and in it, are rarely static.

Also, keep a goddamn watch! Your GPS will not inform you of the
half-sunk container that will put a meter long gash in your hull and
sink you in 45 seconds. Only a decent watch stander can do that.

R.
I wwonder how a "decent watch stander" can see the "half-sunken
container" while sitting in the cockpit on a moonless night in a Force
5 from astern. He'd have to spenmd hjis watch in the bow (or in the
crow's nest, as in olden days...)
john