Bill McKee wrote:

You may remember the incident about a year ago where a fellow on the
West Coast lost all power and drifted for weeks off the Mexican coast
because he'd lost his bearings and had no idea where North was.
Knowledge of the sun compass method would have allowed him to ID North
and sail quickly to shore.

The point of this thread is to remind us of the easy to learn sun
compass skill for determining North.

He could not find his way to an Island 26 miles away, that can be seen from
the mainland. He could have looked at the sunrise and figured out which way
the closest land was. And he is going to be able to improvise a compass?

I thought so too at the time, but can also understand how someone can
become disoriented at sea. Had he been versed in emergency orientation
skills it's likely he would not have froze...hence a major reason for
*this* thread. If these methods are practiced *beforehand*, much less
chance of going dumb when it counts.

--
Skipper