Wally wrote:
Jeff Morris wrote:
Also, I don't remember ever going
through a season without at least one GPS "outage" of some type -
either a bad cable or dead batteries or sailing into a "gap" in the
charting. If this happens to someone without basic skills they are up
the creek!

Wouldn't you say that dead batteries is a more fundamental failing
than not being able to use chart and compass?

"Fundamental" or not, it happens, so the boater must be prepared for it. Also, paper
charts blow overboard, so the prudent navigator always has two copies.

I assume that, by 'gap
in the charting', you're talking about those GPS chart-plotter
thingies - but, the GPS should still be able to give lat/long, which
can be found on the paper chart. (At no point have I said that nav
aids should be a substitute for the traditional tools, to the extent
that the latter should be left ashore.)

Several times that I've "fallen into a gap" I've been in tricky channels and was not
pleased. I did have a paper chart on hand and was able to adjust quickly, but I wonder if
a novice would have. Also, I've found that those not used to using paper paper have
trouble plotting from coordinates. Using a GPS in "raw mode" (that is, lat/lon only)
implies being able to use a chart and understand a limited form of Dead Reckoning.

-jeff