I have always loved my paper charts and hand bearing compass, taking
sights and plotting my position on the cabin floor while the boat
pitches and yaws. Often I had to do this quickly because being down
below when it was rough would quickly make me seasick. However, I was
never tempted to give up my low tech ways until yesterday when I
helped a friend move his pilothouse sailboat about 10 miles. He has a
chartplotter and he sat in his captains chair watching the little boat
icon move showing its position in relation to shoals and showing his
course in relation to where we wanted to go, WOW. None of this "My
bearing to that mark cannot exceed 280 or we are in danger from the
shoal" business, you just look at the plotter. I could get to like
that........maybe.
However, I wonder how much one gives up when he goes hi-tech. Do you
lose the sense of 'figuring it all out"?