Are paper charts a dinosaur?

[Cadence]

It was some years ago so someone probably has current info.. A friend while in USAF navigator training, learning to us a sexton was a requirement.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Celestial navigation is a fairly esoteric art which was not used all that much in recreational sailing even before GPS.

I think that it is a big mistake people make these days to think that the only alternative to satellite navigation is celestial.

In fact for coastal sailing celestial nav is useless. The main techniques, still useful (essential?) skills to have today, were triangulation using three-point fixes on coastal landmarks, and following depth contour lines. Dead reckoning when out of sight of land. These techniques work extremely well -- you don't need either GPS or celestial to navigate very well in typical coastal situations, so long as you have some kind of chart.

I'm not denigrating celestial; it's a magnificent art, but it's a specialized technique which is really only needed for passages which take you out of sight of land for multiple days at a time. Failure to perceive the specialized nature of celestial navigation leads to forgetting about the more important (for the typical sailor) traditional navigation skills, which I think is unfortunate.

Ah yes Dockhead - but any young lady that sees you pull out a sextant and proceed to shoot at star or the sun will be instantly smitten. Even if you're an old fogey like me

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by carstenb

Ah yes Dockhead - but any young lady that sees you pull out a sextant and proceed to shoot at star or the sun will be instantly smitten. Even if you're an old fogey like me

I realize some of you guys need some extra help in that department

[Dockhead]

Continuing the thought:

"I think that it is a big mistake people make these days to think that the only alternative to satellite navigation is celestial" as if in the absence of a GPS position, you just whip out the sextant and navigate exactly the same way.

That's not the way it worked at all. In coastal situations or relatively short offshore passages, sailors did not use their sextants, if they even had one. You used your eyes, hand bearing compass, depth sounder, and your wits. Without instant access to your lat/long, you had to think in a completely different way, with a lot more deductive reasoning. You didn't even think about your lat/long all that much -- you cared a lot more about your position relative to hazards, waypoints, etc.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I realize some of you guys need some extra help in that department

In that department I take all the help I can get

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by carstenb

In that department I take all the help I can get

If I'm following this right? Don't get too much help or you will be getting slapped upside to head.

[alctel]

When you learn to fly, you still training using paper charts and using DR.

I'm on the younger end of this forum, and I love my electronic gizmos, but I have backup paper charts for the areas I will be going to, and am practicing using a sextant.

Apart from anything else, it's really quite fun.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by alctel

I'm on the younger end of this forum, and I love my electronic gizmos, but I have backup paper charts for the areas I will be going to, and am practicing using a sextant.

Apart from anything else, it's really quite fun.

This is why I would like to learn using the sextant as well. Or at least I thought it was until carstenb's recent post. Suddenly it's a big priority.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by carstenb

Ah yes Dockhead - but any young lady that sees you pull out a sextant and proceed to shoot at star or the sun will be instantly smitten.

I bet I can look at my GPS ahead of time and then fake it

[Saltyhog]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

I'll bite. With video calling and the proliferation of conference calls, we are closing in on the point where it's nice but completely unneccessary to meet face to face.

20-30yrs ago when it was voice only and you couldn't see body language or share documents, there was value in face to face meetings.

Now I think we are still 10-15yrs from complete elimination of face to face the bulk of that delay is waiting for the dinosaurs to retire. There will be some hickups and funny stories along the way but once we get over it, you will see the change in the same way paper charts are on the way out.

So if I'm following you correctly, you believe that face to face, in person, communications will be of zero value to anyone but us dinosaurs. To follow your line of reasoning, in the future there will be no need to actually sail boats to our cruising destination as we can experience it all virtually in the comfort of our homes. Why take the risk of foreign body contact?

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Cadence

If I'm following this right? Don't get too much help or you will be getting slapped upside to head.

Idoubt if I would get away with only a slap up the side of my head. I suspect Vinni would get her riggers knife out and remove a certain part of my body that I happen to be fond of

of course I am allowed to fantasize :-)

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Saltyhog

So if I'm following you correctly, you believe that face to face, in person, communications will be of zero value to anyone but us dinosaurs. To follow your line of reasoning, in the future there will be no need to actually sail boats to our cruising destination as we can experience it all virtually in the comfort of our homes. Why take the risk of foreign body contact?

Cyber sex? Solves overpopulation and STDs. Somehow it just don't seem the same? Being a dinosaur a hand shake makes a deal and experiencing it first hand wins out, As much as I enjoy posting by Carsten and Simon and other creditables of adventures I'll never do.