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The posts by Doug and Trevor got me remembering.  I guess I must be entering
that stage of life where one thinks, "when I was...", and begins to record
life experiences before the data vanish with the person.  My navigating
experiences are all coastal.

1971-72: When I was a deckhand on CCGS Alexander Henry on the Lakes in
1971-72, I recall the mates positioning the ship to drop navigational buoys
using horizontal sextant shore sights.  I can't recall how they navigated
across the open water, but I presume they used land-based radio systems like
Loran or Decca, plus radar.  I doubt that they used CN.

1976-81: We used Loran and radar when I was commercial fishing and later a
biologist in the Pacific off British Columbia in 1976-81.  I don't recall
seeing a sextant used on any of the commercial fishing or government ships
that I sailed on.

1987: My residency director and I flew his Lake Buccaneer from Alberta to
California in 1987 using RDF methods, mainly flying VOR to VOR with radar
flight-following.  The Loran system was becoming more reliable in that
inland part of North America, and I recall him proudly showing off his
receiver as we flew along.

1995: I first played with a handheld GPS, on an ambulance in Alberta.  They
were becoming popular with amateurs.

1999: We removed the Loran system from our recreational coastal cruiser,
leaving a GPS chartplotter that had been installed a few years earlier.  I
later added radar.  GPS was expanding in the recreational and coastal
fishing fleets.  Nobody I knew could use a sextant.

2004: Every boat in the marina seems to have GPS now.  All the bigger boats
have radar.  This summer we heard a position report for a Pan-Pan given only
in Loran coordinates, but that's rare.  More often people read the Lat/Long
position from a GPS.  I know only 3 people who practice backyard CN on
Prince Edward Island, all of them having learned the art in the past year or
two.  In the last 5 years I have never met anyone in person who has actually
navigated by relying on CN. although I have talked with acquaintenances who
tried a few sights on ocean passages in recreational boats.  They found it
difficult to set up for sight-taking when other chores or rest times took
priority.  A Coast Guard cadet at the College in Sydney learned CN from
Canadian Power & Sail Squadrons before joining the Coast Guard, but says he
is pretty rusty now. Most recreational boaters simply do not have the time
it takes to learn CN, even if they are strongly motivated to do so.

Jim Thompson
jim2@jimthompson.net
www.jimthompson.net
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