I like that one Doug... and it does get mighty exciting when you crawl
onto your first sand bank let alone a rock...

I am amazed at the number of people I meet who can=B4t REMEMBER how to
take a fix and plot their position on a paper chart. We all learn these
things, but without practice, it=B4s rather pointless. When you need it,
you=B4re probably going to have so many distractions that you won=B4t
remember what you=B4re doing in time to dodge the island... These things
need to be instinct, and the best way is to run your =B4manual=B4
charting and DR alongside your GPS and electronic plotter. This keeps
you practiced and makes for an interesting comparison between charts.
In southern Chile and Argentina, some of our charts are off by as much
as 2 nmiles. And those are the paper charts (believe me, the
electronics are worse).

..=2E.guess I should get off my soapbox now and go practice some running
fixes now.... ; )

"If you don't know what you need to look for, you shouldn't be going."
Its this mentality you see that ****es me off. Someone asks a
question and that is ALWAYS a standard answer. You see it in alot of
forums on ANY topic. What anchor is best in soft mud??? well if you
have to ask you have no business anchoring in soft mud u idiot!!!!!!!!!

Meye5 wrote:
" What anchor is best in soft mud??? well if you
have to ask you have no business anchoring in soft mud u idiot!!!!!!!!!

How does one learn these things?

tom
of the Swee****er Sea

Tom, I was being sarcastic. I am annoyed when some poor soul asks a
perfectly innocent question and some A hole answeres with this: "if
you have to ask than yoiu shouldnt *%&$ in the first place. For
example if someone were to ask if a catalina 27 they own is capable of
sailing to the bahamas safely some A hole will say. "well if you have
to ask then you shouldnt be sailing to the bahamas in the first
place!!!!!!!!"

Hey guys... we=B4re all learning. Nobody knows it all and quite frankly,
a newsgroup is a great place to ask questions and get opinions back.
Sometimes you get =B4flamed=B4 and sometimes you get intelligent
information.

And quite frankly, out in the ocean, there=B4s never one answer....

If you have to ask what a bluewater boat is then you have no business
blue water sailing. Sit on the porch. You can't play with the big dogs.
bob, friend to capt. neal and like minded fellows of the
sea.

Dont listen to Palm tree dreamer, hes never left his bathtub and little
rubby ducky.