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Maynard G. Krebbs wrote:
snip I think the biggest problem with all the new electronics is the faith put in them buy unsalted owners. At times we have new people on the boats that will lay out a GPS course and go. Then we have to remind them to look outside the boat as they are making their way from waypoint to waypoint. It's the mental set of the new boaters. They have been told how wonderful the electronics are and they never question them or their performance. It's this "blind faith" that leads to trouble. In all fairness to the makers of the electronics, they do warn people about the inherent problems during startup and the like but people generally don't read that or remember it. There are similar warnings on charts too. The reason I want to use celestial offshore is to retain the uncertanty in the back of my mind. That little ghost-voice saying, "You're not really at that spot on the chart. You're somewhere around that spot... maybe." Great idea! I wonder, when you buy a sextant now does it have a warning label on it somewhere too? I never got around to playing with sextants but if I owned a cruising boat I'm sure I would have one on board and would play with it. And then I would then look at a GPS to see how well I was doing with it. Has anyone ever had a GPS that generated a apparently good fix that was grossly inaccurate? A position that had a typically good EPE but was just flat way wrong? If I was going to equip a life boat I might give a modern, waterproof, handheld GPS and some batteries higher consideration over a sextant. If I had not been found or grounded by the time that quit working, the sun, moon, and stars would be the backup. :) -- Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jacker at midmaine dot com |