Range Finder When Anchoring

[S/V Alchemy]

Another method available to most people of course is to motor up to the closest boat, make a waypoint on your GPS, and then back off to your comfort zone. If there are two boats, run the line between them on a constant heading and then anchor at the midpoint.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by ice

You can actually get much better at judging distance by eye if you try/study/practice.
One of the more useful techniques when starting is the 'extended arm'...

Indeed.

Your Body Ruler, A User's Manual ➥ Your Body Ruler - A User's Manual

Including
Measuring Angle and Distance with your Thumb ➥ Measuring Angle and Distance with your Thumb

[mrohr]

I have found the following usefull;like finding out if it's time for cocktails yet.
Hold arm out make fist with thumb on top ,this should subtend an angle of approx. 15 degrees (sun moves 15 degrees/hr. ).So if it takes 3 fists to fill the space between the sun and the horizion below ,it's three hours to sundown,and if it's AM then one can tell how many hours the sun has been up etc. etc..
Don't know whether it's AM or PM? You had better layoff those cocktails.

How can this be, aren't some fists bigger than others? Yes ,but bigger fists live at the end of longer arms and conversely, so it works out approx. to 15 degrees .Just fine tune it by experimenting with how much arch you need to put on your thumb to get a closer approx. to the necessary 15 degrees of arc.

You don't need a weatherman to tell you which way the wind blows.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by mrohr

I have found the following usefull;like finding out if it's time for cocktails yet.
Hold arm out make fist with thumb on top ,this should subtend an angle of approx. 15 degrees (sun moves 15 degrees/hr. ).So if it takes 3 fists to fill the space between the sun and the horizion below ,it's three hours to sundown,and if it's AM then one can tell how many hours the sun has been up etc. etc..
Don't know whether it's AM or PM? You had better layoff those cocktails.

How can this be, aren't some fists bigger than others? Yes ,but bigger fists live at the end of longer arms and conversely, so it works out approx. to 15 degrees .Just fine tune it by experimenting with how much arch you need to put on your thumb to get a closer approx. to the necessary 15 degrees of arc.

You don't need a weatherman to tell you which way the wind blows.

Cocktail time!

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by afmstm

We use a Bushnell Sport 450, under $150 at Amazon. Extremely useful. We use bearing triangulation as a supplemental check, but it is error prone. The rangefinder is fast and even works through the windscreen on our boat. It seems accurate (ie repeatable) for ranges up to 200 yds. Under perfect conditions I've used it at 400 yds (to a white building).

It is *great* to be able to check distances to nearby boats.

The biggest challenge for the rangefinder (but this applies to triangulation also) is that when it is very dark, it is hard to see the targets. I've used a searchlight to pick them out, but this is not really satisfactory. Second challenge is that it is electronic and needs batteries.

Money well spent IMHO.

Van

I have two sets of binoculars on board. Decent quality but not the fancy ones.

The first time I used a modern range and bearing set I was sold. Definitely good kit to have on board.