Wally wrote:

.... It does strike me, however, that things like radar and GPS are
rather easier to get to grips with than the traditional methods with chart
and compass.

Actually, they are easier to gain a false sense of security from.

If you don't have a solid foundation in navigation basics, you can't grasp what
the GPS is trying to tell you.


All that triangulation stuff, having to account for compass
variation and deviation, tides and currents, would be quite a bit of
learning for someone who's new to it.

Yes, but piloting basics are simpler than that. If you don't understand an LOP
or bearing/distance relationships in the first place, then a GPS is going to be
useless.

GPS is only a tool. It's a marvelous tool, almost like magic, but a great wrench
does not make a lousy mechanic any better.




FWIW, I think that radar and GPS are easier to learn, and should therefore
be learned first - on the basis that some sort of skill in knowing one's
course and position is better than none.

Sorry, I disagree strongly. The basics of navigation are relatively simple and
can be phrased in three short questions:

Where am I?
Which direction should I go?
What hazards are along my course?

GPS makes it a snap to answer the first two questions, but to use the
information you need to know the questions in the first place. And sadly, it
will not help at all with the third question. Radar will help a little, with
experience reading & interpreting the targets (the one thing a novice won't
have).

Unfortunately most people who don't know how to navigate very well gain a great
sense of security & confidence from GPS. That's real nice until it leads them
into trouble.... but I guess it's job security for Sea Tow...

Fresh Breezes- Doug King