This Is Good Seamanship ?!

[maxingout]

On Exit Only, I had two binnacle compasses and three handheld compasses. I also had 4 GPS units. I also knew how to do celestial navigation and get bearings from the sun and stars if everything else failed.

Going to sea with a single compass is pushing your luck. Going to sea with an uncompensated compass is really pushing your luck. Ask Lynn and Larry Pardy about using a northern hemisphere compass in the southern hemisphere.

There are lots of ways to screw up when sailing offshore. Not having working navigational gear is unforgivable.

Unless your name is Ferdinand Magellan and the year is 1500, there is no excuse for not having good navigational gear on board.

[NotQuiteLost]

Originally Posted by sneuman

You could be right, but I think it wouldn't matter, really (whether she'd completed the circumn or not).

Where are you in the PI? Asia's best-kept secret. Nicest people, worst cuisine. But overall, it's one of my favorite places!

Nicest people, worst cuisine. I don't think I could have said it better. They do some things to the 'good' level, but they have absolutely NOTHING great

I stay in Cebu. Perfect location for weather, here or over in Negros. We're kind of in 'the pocket' that keeps out of most of the bad typhoons. That super typhoon coming tomorrow should only raise winds to 20-30mph around here, according to passageweather (they're going to be 120-160mph up where the center hits Luzon). For where I anchor, that site's been pretty darned accurate.

[NotQuiteLost]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Hmmm,

Actually, I think that it is worse than the biggest mistake most of us have ever made, because that mistake cost her her yacht, and the various rescuing governments/boats/people lots of time and dollars.

Most of us have not (yet) made that bad a mistake.

Cheers,

Jim

I suppose there's an argument that since it cost her the boat, it was a bigger mistake than most of us have made. I don't buy it, but there's an argument there that could win over some people, sure.

Anyways, it's not that big of a deal. But it is interesting to see how the community comes down on the subject. That's not some half-assed patronizing/psychobabble crap intended to hack people off, it's just an honest reaction.

[motion30]

No problem boss, if we get lost we will just pull over and ask someone

[Jens1]

Originally Posted by sneuman

There are many on CF who advocate deep sixing the paper charts, so why not the compass, too? Abby is just showing that she's with the hip cruising crowd and not the dinosaurs!

Sorry, that is very short view on the problem. sailing without a compass can be a nightmare. I don't believe they intended to be ahead of the technical development. Sometimes it is worth being a dino.

[Cormorant]

Originally Posted by NotQuiteLost

... it is interesting to see how the community comes down on the subject. That's not some half-assed patronizing/psychobabble crap intended to hack people off, it's just an honest reaction.

They say "Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan."

Look at Jessica Watson, toast of her entire nation. Interesting to speculate how Abby would have been perceived, if not for the storm that took down her mast.

[svcambria]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I'm sure they'll go far in their maritime adventures.

They just won't know where they have been... ;-)

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by NotQuiteLost

Nicest people, worst cuisine. I don't think I could have said it better. They do some things to the 'good' level, but they have absolutely NOTHING great

I stay in Cebu. Perfect location for weather, here or over in Negros. We're kind of in 'the pocket' that keeps out of most of the bad typhoons. That super typhoon coming tomorrow should only raise winds to 20-30mph around here, according to passageweather (they're going to be 120-160mph up where the center hits Luzon). For where I anchor, that site's been pretty darned accurate.

I've been to Cebu, but haven't sailed there. Always dreamed of cruising the Visayas!

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by Jens1

Sorry, that is very short view on the problem. sailing without a compass can be a nightmare. I don't believe they intended to be ahead of the technical development. Sometimes it is worth being a dino.

sarcasm, man.