Wayne.B wrote:
On Fri, 16 Dec 2005 16:28:49 -0600, Skipper wrote:


Here's the situation: You're 100 miles offshore and bailing to the
liferaft. You've become disoriented and have lost your bearings. You
reach for the GPS-12 and find it's DOA. Among your options is the sun
compass. Do you know how to make and use one?

snip
There's another old trick with an analog wrist watch where you put a
matchstick (or similar) vertically over the middle. Rotate the watch
until the shadow falls along the hour hand (that's the little one).

North is roughly in the direction of 12 o'clock. Works best spring
and fall in the northern hemisphere.


No, think what happens at 6AM :-)

Its actually something like point the hour hand at the sun and SOUTH is
half way between the hour hand and 12 o'clock (or North in the Southern
hemisphere).

--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
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'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed,
All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy.