
NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: News Item on Over-reliance on GPS
From: Fred Hebard
Date: 2008 Nov 9, 13:57 -0500
From: Fred Hebard
Date: 2008 Nov 9, 13:57 -0500
Lu, Yes, with the caveat to use the sextant regularly. Fred On Nov 9, 2008, at 1:28 PM, Lu Abel wrote: > Fred Hebard wrote: >> >> So where's the sextant then? Well, gee, that's your PRIMARY >> navigation system. >> This seems contradictory Frank. Either the 'complicated GPS >> "system" aboard' is the primary system or the sextant is. In a >> long, bluewater passage in a small boat, it would seem a sextant >> might be the best primary system. Fred > Fred, I guess I have to wonder on what basis you make this > assertion. On the one hand, when you're on a bluewater passage, > you don't really worry much about bumping into things, bad weather > and other such things are a more continuous and urgent concern. > On the other hand, when you near land, your position suddenly > becomes of great concern. As a responsible navigator, would you > prefer a system that gave you five-mile accuracy when it was > working or a system that gave you 50 ft accuracy most of the time? > > Frank gave some excellent examples of how rugged and waterproof > current handheld GPS sets are. Yeah, large-screen systems like > chartplotters might be less waterproof, but let's not fail to > distinguish. > > As has been mentioned on the list previously, the best backup > systems are ones that rely on a different technology for their > success -- celestial vs GPS, sails vs engines, buckets vs electric > bilge pumps. So why can't we just agree that a good offshore > navigator should carry both a sextant AND a GPS?? > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Navigation List archive: www.fer3.com/arc To post, email NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---