Is a Compass your Primary Navigation Instrument or Back Up?

[Capt Rottnest]

Originally Posted by Andrew Troup

In keeping with the entreaties of the Punctuation Police and Anti-Acronym Activists on other threads, I am empowered to ask nicely, if it's not a bother:

Is your "Don't do radar" a personal disclosure, or something more along the lines of "Kid's, Don't Do Radar, OK?"

I read somewhere (back of Wheaties box.. or was that a joke thread?) that radar makes your gonads ache.

[Andrew Troup]

Originally Posted by Capt Rottnest

I read somewhere (back of Wheaties box.. or was that a joke thread?) that radar makes your gonads ache.

If you lose you grip while shinnying up the topmast hand-over-hand it certainly can

Makes your eyes water, in fact.

[FlyingCloud1937]

WINNER, WINNER, WINNER.

The number one reason to have and to understand a floating card Compass.

No helmsman can keep a ship right, in FOG, without it.


Use what ever destination course control, whether paper or GPS. But please advise the helmsman what course to keep the compass on for each LEG.

I don't believe there is a sole; nor for that matter: any skipper in the world, that won't lose his/her head in FOG, lacking a magnetic floating card.

Lloyd

And using an auto-pilot/self steering in Fog....is only for fools. Kinda like using the auto...steering, in a ship canal.

Originally Posted by cwyckham

I had a recent learning experience in extremely heavy fog while heading through a narrow passage. Although our Navigation was by GPS chartplotter on the binnacle, we quickly found that our Steering had to be by the compass. The COG indicator on the screen lagged too much and we were literally turning circles (we were under power in no wind) until we figured out we had to steer by the compass. It was the only thing that gave us adequate situational awareness to travel in a straight line.

Of course, using the autopilot would have done the same, but we were in tight quarters and hugging the shoreline, so monkeying with the AP would have made things worse, not better.

[Dale Hedtke]

Please explain how a 2 second lag is a "lie." Define lie.

Virtually no information is ever current, no instrument 100% accurate.

That said, why would you care if your information is 2 seconds old?

On our boat we don't use the magnetic ship's compass often, but I would not want to proceed without it for reasons given above.

[bletso]

It is still my primary means of navigating. I can trust my compass, but my electronic aids, no matter how fancy never seem to mix well with water. My navionics are really nice, but in the glare of the sun in open water my compass is always visible.

[psneeld]

obviously some of you have never sailed in fog where the magnetic disturbances would have run you aground in no time.....

fools using electronics????....well...just remember your limitations aren't mine....

[noelex 77]

It should be pointed out that the OP (or anyone else) has not suggested doing without the traditional magnetic compass only that it is not normally his primary instrument to determine heading.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Nostrodamus

There has been another thread running about this in the UK and I just though I would put a similar question on here and get all the flack again.

I have said that with the type of sailing I do my primary means of navigation is by electronic instruments.

I helm the boat as little as possible preferring to use the auto pilot which is most often set to sail by the wind.

I cannot remember the last time I looked at the ships compass let alone sailed by it.

My view is that it has been demoted from the primary navigational instrument to a back up should all go wrong.

I seem to be pretty much alone in my view as most in the UK said that they always use their compass to sail by, especially when crossing several tides.

I still stand by my assertion that for me and the type of sailing I do a electronics are better and the compass is just a backup very much like my lead line to the depth sounder.

What do you think?

I love my electronics (maybe you followed my electronics refit last year on here). I have a super precise, three-axis gyro stabilized Airmar H2183 electronic compass, and I have a multitude of displays in the cockpit (four Tritons, now five as I just bought another, plus a B&G Zeus MFD). I don't helm by hand except when doing close quarters maneuvers.

HOWEVER, for me the magnetic compass will always be the primary, the primaeval if you like, navigation instrument, the most important one. I can't imagine a wheel without a compass -- what's the purpose of it? How do you orient yourself? I constantly look at the compass when helming by hand, or anytime I'm behind the wheel somewhere. When I'm not behind the wheel, I LOVE the compass display screen you can choose on the B&G Tritons. Now that I will have 4 Tritons on my scuttle, one of them will always be on the compass display screen -- hurra!

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by FlyingCloud1937

No helmsman can keep a ship right, in FOG, without it.


Use what ever destination course control, whether paper or GPS. But please advise the helmsman what course to keep the compass on for each LEG.

I don't believe there is a sole; nor for that matter: any skipper in the world, that won't lose his/her head in FOG, lacking a magnetic floating card.

Lloyd

And using an auto-pilot/self steering in Fog....is only for fools. Kinda like using the auto...steering, in a ship canal.

+1

I agree entirely. But not only in fog. At night, too. Or even in the day time with perfect visibility -- how do you helm without a compass? In my opinion, there is no point in having a wheel on board, if there's not a compass mounted next to it.

[klmmicro]

I still get the OP's original question: is it your PRIMARY?

For me, no. It is one of several that I have and I refer to it regularly, but mostly glance my chart platter as it give me more information...including heading. Redundant sources just seems smarter to me.

[Jammer Six]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Or even in the day time with perfect visibility -- how do you helm without a compass?

I look around, see where I am, where I want to go, set the sails for the wind and the course and steer to the wind.

[robert sailor]

When your steering offshore when you look around its all the same, no visual references, maybe its old habits but I'd be lost without my compass.

[Sandbox Sailor]

After 6 decades of boating, mostly power, I learned navigation with compass and charts and RDF. Once I moved to the ocean, I relied on radar, loran and my compass. The captain I did boat ferrying with in the late 70's taught me the basics of celestial navigation. He NEVER relied on electronics. I do not own a GPS or other modern aids. I have a compass, charts, timepiece and sextant. If I can't see shore, I'm not likely to be sailing there. But when I am, I need no batteries to know where I am. It's a sailboat, there is a lot of time available to do the navigation chores.

[Pelagic]

I think we ALL agree that a compass is our primary “Piloting” tool… i.e. keeps us going in a straight line!

Where the semantics/confusion comes in is the OP inadvertently used the term “navigation” instrument, which it still is, but only from a piloting perspective.

I would go one step further and say that my training is my primary navigational instrument.

[Sandbox Sailor]

And since I can't seem to edit my post, a correction would be 4 decades, not 6. (Dang small keyboard and screen!)