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RDF (radio direction finding) ... do you ?
Maybe I am misreading - GPS is not the only tool you need and it seems
that you are saying it is. Also, that little lightning detector that's being sold is nothing more then an RDF with no other features. I'm not tryiing to start a brawl here, I just see people thinking to highly of GPS. The funniest thing is that most of the charts for other parts of the world are not nearly accurate enough to even think GPS. There are island groups on Caribbean charts with notes like "last survey by captain so and so of the English admiralty 1841 - No chart datum can fix that chart. Este sud Este is about 4 miles off of the chart position and none of the little islands are in the same place or the same shape as on the chart. Half moon key (cayo media luna) isn't even there anymore, there is an atoll where it use to be (but it is still on the charts. The point is, if you don't KNOW how to navigate you're likely to trust the wrong thing or not trust the right thing. If you know how to really navigate - read waves, understand currents, read clouds, know weather, do dead reckoning, keep a log, triangulate, use a sextant - You'll need the old tools to do time honored navigation. GPS is a great tool as long as it works and as long as the charts are accurate (which they aren't and which get worse as you get further away from places people frequent - like where most people like to cruise). GPS is great if it doesn't run you aground on the reef that was suppose to be 4 miles away! As for RDF - I think anyone sailing in a tropical area should have one for the one time they need to see the direction of a lightning storm. I also think everyone there needs a sextant and knowledge of how to do triangulation so they can keep track of a distant storms movement with bass height (which requires weather knowledge). I think that anyone stuck in a problem concerning those things that has not learned what they should know and has left sight of land without the right tools is asking for trouble. |
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