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Old 04-06-2017, 07:49   #1
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Are You A Video Game Navigator?

The June/July 2017 issue of Boat US Magazine had an interesting article entitled "Steer Clear of 'Video Game Syndrome'. It details sailors' penchant for electronic navigation, in lieu of chart/eyeball navigation, which has become an increasing problem on the water according to Boat US insurance claims. How many on this Forum trust implicitly the boat icon that appears on the GPS/Radar screen as your vessel is on autopilot traversing coastal waters without a lookout at the helm? Is this prudent navigation? Many years ago on our previous 25 footer, we were sailing on a spinnaker run at the edge of the wind on Lake Michigan when a 50-foot Searay appeared about a mile away. As he approached, it was clear we were on a collision course. It was a fairly lumpy day--3 to 5 feet with LM's classic short fetched waves and a light wind(10K) from the east. We watched the approach closely and decided to hold our course and when it was about 50 yards away, we could not see anyone at the helm. Perhaps we waited too long, but then decided to jibe as the boat passed within 10 feet of us throwing an enormous wake with a breaking wave over the cockpit. As he passed, there was no one at the helm. Was he below watching his radar screen, TV, GPS? Was there any attempt at prudent seamanship or was it as in many places in the Bahamas where many big sport-fishermen's ethic is "Just get out of my way!" Is this truly the best form of navigation for the future? Are you a video-game navigator?
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Old 04-06-2017, 08:22   #2
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

I read that BOATU.S. article and think that it was on point.

As a marine surveyor I find that many of my clients (especially under 35 years of age) that are buying their first boat think that navigation is done by their phone - after all, they have the app.

When I tell them that the first thing that they should learn about boating is navigation using paper charts and a compass many of them just look at me dumbfounded. And the rest appear to be rolling their eyes.

Compass deviation you say? Got an app for that.

Not sure what they will do if / when there's a glitch in the Matrix

As an side, recently I was telling one of my young clients that his new to him boat was going to sink because a very old hose with wire reinforcement below the waterline was leaking (spiting seawater) and as I looked up telling him he said, "OK, yes, uh huh" - he was texting at the time - seriously. When he stopped texting he said "what did you say?" I told him again and he said,"why didn't you tell me?"

Can't make this stuff up.

We live in a world of constant distraction.

Another example is the the "drifting" of cars in lanes while driving, yep, the heads are down and texting and of course the drivers are mad that you are now in their lane.

Funny, interesting world we live in.
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Old 04-06-2017, 09:09   #3
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

You cannot reasonably expect boating to be anything else than landlife is.

Walk any street. Watch people. What are they doing? Well, mostly texting while walking, texting while resting or else texting while driving.

I am texting now. At CF. While sitting on my bunk. My boat is 1600 miles offshore.(*)

Multitasking is only marginally true and only while one is very young. Past about 35, our brains stop being that much multi anything. Most of us believe we can still talk to Betty while texting Carmen. Actually, we cannot. And they never discover not that they are not smart enough, but they are just busy texting Josh while talking to YOU. Swallow it.

Absent minded, ignorant, screen addicted skippers must be taken for granted. If you are NOT one of them, act on the water as if all others were.

You gybed TOO LATE. Next time gybe as soon as another boat pop up on the horizon. I mean it.

And watch your partner more carefully: if they are texting, they are likely cheating.(*)

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* - another
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Old 04-06-2017, 09:25   #4
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

Hopefully, you learn via a minor mishap that you can't always trust a chart (paper or electronic). We had one such mishap and learned that you must always keep a lookout and watch where you are going... we were... but not paying as MUCH attention as we should have. Its not good enough to have a lookout, you must have a GREAT lookout process.

For those that do not have the opportunity to learn from minor issues... well that sucks for everyone.

We detest sport fisherman. They just don't care about anyone else on the water. Their boats put up such wake that they should be illegal to use in most areas.
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Old 04-06-2017, 09:36   #5
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

I have made this point here a number of times (and sometimes get crapped on for being such a luddite…). A chartplotter is, at best, a twice-removed approximation of your boat’s actual position. It’s an amazing tool which I used all the time, but it’s not my primary navigation tool. Those would be eyeballs and charts, followed by compass, depth sounder and radar (real time measurements).

First level approximation is the reliance on underlying chart accuracy. Most charts in busy commercial areas of first-world areas will have been sounded relatively recently, but other more remote areas can be based on soundings decades old or very limited datasets. I’ve seen charts that can be more than 1/2 nm offset from reality, and that’s in Canada.

The second level is the mapping of your GPS position onto the digital chart. GPS has become increasingly accurate, but all devices operate within an error range. My devices usually operate within a few metre error range, but it’s not uncommon to have that jump to many 10s of metres. And signal loss is also not uncommon, especially with smaller devices like handhelds or phones.

The technology is seductive, and it is pretty darn accurate most of the time. In our screen-driven world, it’s easy to become reliant on the glowing dots. Don’t do it.
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Old 04-06-2017, 14:46   #6
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

> traversing coastal waters without a lookout at the helm? Is this prudent navigation?

That has nothing to do with navigation, prudent or otherwise. It's just bad seamanship.

Please don't conflate primary use of electronic navigation aids with bad seamanship.

"Chartplotter/eyeballs" is far more effective and less error prone than "paper chart/eyeballs" for many,many reasons.
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Old 05-06-2017, 08:14   #7
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

Quote:
Originally Posted by StuM View Post
> traversing coastal waters without a lookout at the helm? Is this prudent navigation?

That has nothing to do with navigation, prudent or otherwise. It's just bad seamanship.

Please don't conflate primary use of electronic navigation aids with bad seamanship.

"Chartplotter/eyeballs" is far more effective and less error prone than "paper chart/eyeballs" for many,many reasons.

Perhaps we're quibbling over semantics, Stu but navigation is a combination of plotted information as it relates to your perceived position on the water or, in a best case scenario-- "the process or activity of accurately ascertaining one's position and planning and following a route." My experience is that electronic navigation(chartplotters) have been more consistently in error in re: position of boat in water since many programs consistently show obvious errors of position. One of our favorite anchorages on Lake Michigan places our boat several hundred yards inland when anchored in 15-20 feet of water. Many shoal areas are also consistently in error. It is for this reason that when sailing at night, we always maintain a 1 mile minimum limit when sailing along the coast and always use paper charts to plot our position from GPS fixes. I would agree that no one at the helm is bad seamanship but in many cases, as related in the above article by Boat US, the reason for many mishaps/accidents is an over-dependence on electronic navigational aids. In generations of people reared under the spell of personal computers of various forms, there is a real danger that exists in placing complete faith and trust in these electronic devices--which may or may not have been the case with our encounter with the 50 foot Searay. I hope this further clarifies my position as well as the intent of the article. Good luck and safe sailing.
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Old 05-06-2017, 08:27   #8
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

I'd posit that while chart plotters with a boat icon can (and often do) give mariners a false sense of security while RADAR is the opposite. We often navigate at night offshore paying as much attention (constantly) to the radar (in and out) and making a visual full sweep of the horizon every 10-15 minutes with glasses. The combination seems to work well off soundings; on soundings it's all "Steiner' navigation with a chart being plotted every hour and a chart plotter on for confirmation.
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Old 05-06-2017, 08:45   #9
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

Quote:
Originally Posted by rognvald View Post
... As he passed, there was no one at the helm. Was he below watching his radar screen, TV, GPS?...
Probably down at the nav station plotting his course on a paper chart. Too bad he wasn't using a helm-mounted gps/chart-plotter, could have dealt with navigation tasks without sacrificing a prudent watch.
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Old 05-06-2017, 09:35   #10
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike OReilly View Post
I have made this point here a number of times (and sometimes get crapped on for being such a luddite…). A chartplotter is, at best, a twice-removed approximation of your boat’s actual position. It’s an amazing tool which I used all the time, but it’s not my primary navigation tool. Those would be eyeballs and charts, followed by compass, depth sounder and radar (real time measurements).

The technology is seductive, and it is pretty darn accurate most of the time. In our screen-driven world, it’s easy to become reliant on the glowing dots. Don’t do it.
Spot on! The best navigation tool is your mind when it has situational awareness. Whether it is an electronic chartplotter or a paper chart is less important than understanding that any chart is a guide and that you must be aware of the limitations of charts and electronics.

Perhaps unsurprising giving my nom de plume, I was in the Army for some time. I have seen the same problems with land navigation. The sailing world is familiar with stories such as the Vestus Wind and other similar errors (think of the four who killed them selves sailing from San Francisco to Mexico a couple of years ago due to a reliance upon their chartplotter), but we had the same problem in the Army. I watched a column of vehicles drive off of a small cliff because they were too busy watching the arrow tell them which way to head as opposed to actually looking where they were going. In all fairness, it was the desert, it was dusk, and everyone was tired, but the end result was that they weren't aware of what was going on around them and it was costly.

This is sadly, not an isolated incident. I've seen units drive through a kill zone because the preplotted route said to go this way and they follow it. Because they were so busy looking at their screen, they failed to notice the dead, burnt out vehicles. It seems they never thought about the bad things that took place in the area they drove into. They clearly lost their situational awareness

The aviation industry has the same issue. There is a good video called Children of the Magenta that talks about going back to the fundamentals of flying when situations change. Granted, this is for airline pilots and I'm limited to Piper Cherokees and Cessnas, but it is all about the fundamentals. Too many pilots have focused too much of the bells and whistles and not enough about the fundamentals. I could cite plenty of examples but I am sure the readers here know what I am talking about. The same is true in sailing.

Recently, a number of military exercises required a warning to be posted advising that due to wargames, GPS may not be available or worse, MAY PROVIDE FALSE SIGNALS! This requires us to remember that our electronics and charts are only guides. Ultimately we must orient ourselves, first by reviewing what we want to accomplish and then by being aware of possible discrepancies between what we expect, what we see, and what our equipment is telling us.

As the referenced article and others have pointed out, electronics make it easier to be lazy, thus destroying our situational awareness. When used properly, electronics can be a useful tool. When used improperly, such as having an over reliance upon them, then the user becomes the tool, and too often at great personal cost.
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Old 05-06-2017, 13:58   #11
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

" Too bad he wasn't using a helm-mounted gps/chart-plotter, could have dealt with navigation tasks without sacrificing a prudent watch." Wyb2


Would it have shown him he was on land(as in my favorite anchorage) when he was really in 15-20 feet of water . . . or worse yet, the opposite? The point taken is not that we are criticizing the use of GPS/Radar(two outstanding tools for competent navigation), but rather, to use a term coined by the late President Reagan-- to trust and verify. This can only be accomplished with a dedicated watch-stander, nautical charts and the instrument(s) du jour of your choice. The video game navigator is a disaster in waiting. He is a single-faceted captain with no reference point when his electronics fail. The insurance losses referenced in the aforementioned article are a testament to this problem. Good luck and safe sailing.
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Old 05-06-2017, 14:23   #12
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

Like the Pirate Code, I figure chart plotters or nav apps are more of what you call guidelines than actual rules.

We use an iPad with Navionics and the Garmin Blue Charts. More frequently than not neither app agrees with what I am actually seeing on my depth meter. As above the errs are often quite egregious. Like just the other night I was apparently anchored on the hard in a national wildlife refuge.

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Old 05-06-2017, 14:26   #13
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

[QUOTE=ArmyDaveNY;2407607]Spot on! The best navigation tool is your mind when it has situational awareness. Whether it is an electronic chartplotter or a paper chart is less important than understanding that any chart is a guide and that you must be aware of the limitations of charts and electronics.

Perhaps unsurprising giving my nom de plume, I was in the Army for some time. I have seen the same problems with land navigation. The sailing world is familiar with stories such as the Vestus Wind and other similar errors (think of the four who killed them selves sailing from San Francisco to Mexico a couple of years ago due to a reliance upon their chartplotter), but we had the same problem in the Army. I watched a column of vehicles drive off of a small cliff because they were too busy watching the arrow tell them which way to head as opposed to actually looking where they were going. In all fairness, it was the desert, it was dusk, and everyone was tired, but the end result was that they weren't aware of what was going on around them and it was costly.

This is sadly, not an isolated incident. I've seen units drive through a kill zone because the preplotted route said to go this way and they follow it. Because they were so busy looking at their screen, they failed to notice the dead, burnt out vehicles. It seems they never thought about the bad things that took place in the area they drove into. They clearly lost their situational awareness



Recently, a number of military exercises required a warning to be posted advising that due to wargames, GPS may not be available or worse, MAY PROVIDE FALSE SIGNALS! This requires us to remember that our electronics and charts are only guides. Ultimately we must orient ourselves, first by reviewing what we want to accomplish and then by being aware of possible discrepancies between what we expect, what we see, and what our equipment is telling us.

The last paragraph brought to mind our 2 Navy patrol boats captured by the Iranians in the Persian Gulf (last year?) I personally think they were purposely
led into Iranian waters by a false GPS signal. (impossible?) You tell me.
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Old 05-06-2017, 16:39   #14
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

To the OP, no, we are not necessarily a video game navigator; neither me nor the Captain. But we haven't done much except for day sails. Until our trip to Cuba. The Captain's friend sailed only by instrumentation. The Captain sailed by both instrumentation and feel. Coming back from Cuba with the Gulf Stream heading east and the winds coming FROM the east, it was a very bumpy ride. Lying in the v-berth with my feet on the ceiling, I could tell who was at the helm at any given time. They'd switch off every hour. One hour of surfing vs one hour of slamming. Ugh. It taught me a lot.
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Old 05-06-2017, 16:53   #15
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Re: Are You A Video Game Navigator?

I totally agree that a GPS is not a substitute for keeping watch. I totally disagree that paper charts/sextant are superior in any way to digital charts/GPS...aside from maybe novelty.
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