NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Sept Iles bay etc
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2008 May 3, 14:17 +0100
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2008 May 3, 14:17 +0100
Bruce wrote- | The Sept Iles bay I wrote of was along the shore of the Gulf of St. | Lawrence in Canada. We were loading coal into a French carrier that | dwarfed our 730 foot lakers. It took 5 of us to fill it up, ans we | carried 28,000 short tons. Well, that's a relief, that there's another Sept Isles bay than the one I got to to know in Brittany. I would hate to think of that tranquil Baie de Sept Isles as the spot where such monsters transshipped their coal! I suppose, around the world, there must be quite a few bays that have seven islands. It was the French name, and Bruce's reference to a French carrier vessel that seemed to confirm it. But I should have thought of Canada. He also asked- | By the way, has RDF disappeared from the marine world? I searched for | units for small boats and could find any. I thought they might be cheap | and accurate with modern electronics. I found them very useful when | piloting small aircraft in the pre- GPS days. Just about gone, yes. I found them useful, in their day. In UK waters the transmitters were taken over to provide the reference transmissions for differential GPS, when that was needed, in the days before "selective availabiity" was ended. I think a few aero beacons may remain around the coast but the sequential marine DF chains have gone. They were most useful when at a port entrance, so you could home in on them. Position by cross bearings was always somewhat dodgy. If we had no wind, and chose to motor, I would find myself in communion with the DF receiver up in the forepeak, with the spare sails, to get away from the noise and vibration and get a clear(ish) null. The trouble then was, with me at one end of the boat, and my wife on the helm at the other, there was no way I could ask her about the identifying signals, as she was the only one that knew Morse. George. contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222) or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK. | | Any sign of an inexpensive fiber optic gyro on the market yet? I read, | ages ago, that Hitachi was going to have an OEM one for cars for a cost | of around 100.00 US. I loved a good ship's gyro as we did all our chart | work in true. The FOG has the same properties without the size. | | | | | | | | | -- | Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. | Checked by AVG. | Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.23.3/1392 - Release Date: 22/04/2008 15:51 | --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Navigation List archive: www.fer3.com/arc To post, email NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---