An Australian compass that points backwards in the northern hemisphere, which way does it point in Australia ?
do people still use a compass?
- Thread starter troutman
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Our boat is in Australia!
We are in Oz and North is STILL North even with our U.S. compass and the water down the sink goes the same way around!An Australian compass that points backwards in the northern hemisphere, which way does it point in Australia ?
I was in when the last were decom'd. Never rode one but still I served with quite a few DBFers :dance:
ditto, we had just sold a number of them (SS 560s range) to the Iranian navy when I served in subs. The boat I was assigned to was NEARLY as old....USS Shark. And even though it was a nuke, it still had a diesel for backup power. And yes everybody used (gyro)compass in those days, backed up by NAVSAT, LORAN-C and shooting the stars / sun.
:-}
:-}
Hi Brezzin in Mystic, RE: "Am I living in fools paradise" comment. MAYBE...
Yes, I imagine that most boaters do not swing their compasses to card their deviation, and it would not hurt to do so periodically. When power is lost, for whatever reason, to THE primary navigation tool (GPS these days)..compass and paper charts will save your behind, whether it is in open water or only fog.
More emphasis (than seemingly none) should be placed on the backup nav methods.
TVMDC forever !
Oh, yes, DBF too !
Yes, I imagine that most boaters do not swing their compasses to card their deviation, and it would not hurt to do so periodically. When power is lost, for whatever reason, to THE primary navigation tool (GPS these days)..compass and paper charts will save your behind, whether it is in open water or only fog.
More emphasis (than seemingly none) should be placed on the backup nav methods.
TVMDC forever !
Oh, yes, DBF too !
RE: "dumb Roe vs Wade Joke"
Troutman, no excuses needed ! OK, call me corny, I loved your "dumb Roe vs Wade Joke" ! Thanks, it reminds me of a guy at work; he has a joke for nearly every topic / occassion...and just as 'dumb', er I mean, enjoyable.
OBTW, DR is a requirement for boating classes...albeit, only in its rudimentary application.
This is an interesting thread, in many ways, thanks for sparking up this topic again. I reckon' you'll get many a perspective...
Troutman, no excuses needed ! OK, call me corny, I loved your "dumb Roe vs Wade Joke" ! Thanks, it reminds me of a guy at work; he has a joke for nearly every topic / occassion...and just as 'dumb', er I mean, enjoyable.
OBTW, DR is a requirement for boating classes...albeit, only in its rudimentary application.
This is an interesting thread, in many ways, thanks for sparking up this topic again. I reckon' you'll get many a perspective...
This is an interesting thread, in many ways, thanks for sparking up this topic again. I reckon' you'll get many a perspective... -quote-
Well, 108 so far. Over whether to own a compass? On a boat?
(I don't know what DBF means in Navy jargon, but I DO know what DBFS means otherwise)...
Well, 108 so far. Over whether to own a compass? On a boat?
(I don't know what DBF means in Navy jargon, but I DO know what DBFS means otherwise)...
Chris, It's not so much the (inane & obvious) topic of 'compass on a boat' as it is the varied 'piping up' responses, on and off subject.
Dilligaf's reference to DBF = "Diesel Boats Forever" ... harkens back to the days of WWI and WWII, when submarines spent a majority of their time as 'surface craft' that only occasionally dove under the waves to attack / avoid detection...powered by diesel engines on the surface (until the invention of the snorkel) and batteries under the waves.
OBTW, dilligaf = "does it look like I give a F*&%"
So, I give, what does DBFS stand for?
Dilligaf's reference to DBF = "Diesel Boats Forever" ... harkens back to the days of WWI and WWII, when submarines spent a majority of their time as 'surface craft' that only occasionally dove under the waves to attack / avoid detection...powered by diesel engines on the surface (until the invention of the snorkel) and batteries under the waves.
OBTW, dilligaf = "does it look like I give a F*&%"
So, I give, what does DBFS stand for?
I know this is a sailboat forum but I bet most of the people have other boats such as fishing boats. If you have spent any time on the lakes in Ontario you will quickly get lost without something to navigate with. Every bay, island and inlet looks the same, you can not see the lodge and you may not see another boat all day, no houses or marinas. Even on a clear day you can get lost, add fog or heavy rain and the chances go way up. I use a map, compass and GPS.
Brezzin quote -- "Don't be f..in stupid"
Hmmm, wouldn't have ever guessed that...
I suppose there are acronyms out there for everything.
Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving!
At least we had rain yesterday in CT vs snow...don't want to start the winter season TOO soon.
Hmmm, wouldn't have ever guessed that...
I suppose there are acronyms out there for everything.
Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving!
At least we had rain yesterday in CT vs snow...don't want to start the winter season TOO soon.
Its very strange that many think a compass is only a navigation instrument when one of the chief functions of a compass is a sailing instrument, especially when close hauled.
When beating towards a far distant waypoint, a compass will let you know when the wind shifts to a point making a tacking direction inefficient, thus a compass as a sailing instrument will tell you 'when' to tack or to gybe. Ditto too when even without shifting winds when the compass will show that youve entered into areas of adverse current, and you can see the tacking or gybing angles of the boat open up or close down. Without that compass or without looking at that compass, youre simply going to waste time and distance going off needlessly at a 'bad' angle and no matter what your masthead wind indicator or other 'gizmo box' is telling you.
Simply put, the wind is never from a constant direction and the use of compass as a sailing instrument will easily tell you WHEN its time to tack/gybe.
On my long distance crab crusher when closehauled, a compass change of 10 or more degrees, will have me thinking - is this a 'lift' where my sailing angle is now more directed towards my waypoint, or is this a header which puts me at a 'worse' angle to my destination? The second phase of this process is "should I now be tacking over (or gybing)"?
Precisely and technically put, a compass in combination with your simple speedo will show you your best "velocity made good - VMG", even if you cant do the involved 'trigonometry'.
When beating towards a far distant waypoint, a compass will let you know when the wind shifts to a point making a tacking direction inefficient, thus a compass as a sailing instrument will tell you 'when' to tack or to gybe. Ditto too when even without shifting winds when the compass will show that youve entered into areas of adverse current, and you can see the tacking or gybing angles of the boat open up or close down. Without that compass or without looking at that compass, youre simply going to waste time and distance going off needlessly at a 'bad' angle and no matter what your masthead wind indicator or other 'gizmo box' is telling you.
Simply put, the wind is never from a constant direction and the use of compass as a sailing instrument will easily tell you WHEN its time to tack/gybe.
On my long distance crab crusher when closehauled, a compass change of 10 or more degrees, will have me thinking - is this a 'lift' where my sailing angle is now more directed towards my waypoint, or is this a header which puts me at a 'worse' angle to my destination? The second phase of this process is "should I now be tacking over (or gybing)"?
Precisely and technically put, a compass in combination with your simple speedo will show you your best "velocity made good - VMG", even if you cant do the involved 'trigonometry'.
I find it interesting that the compass is being refereed to as a backup nav instrument. What are you folks thinking is your primary nav instrument?
Anyone making a passage across a major ocean current in a slow moving vessel will want to use a compass so that they can navigate in the most efficient manor. Consider a Gulf Stream crossing from Lake Worth to West End. The distance is approximately 50 nm and at 5 kt the passage will take about 10 hours. In the stream current is about 2.5 kt setting to the North. On average a navigator can estimate 2 nm per hour set to the North on the Lake Worth to West End passage. Therefore by using a compass heading to a point 20 nm to the South of West End will result in a track that is somewhat "S" shaped ending at West End. Now on the other hand if one used a GPS set to West End, the heading would be the course actually traveled by the vessel not the direction the vessel is pointing. Thus as the Gulf Stream set the vessel North the autopilot or helmsman would compensate by turning into the stream. The GPS will cause the vessel to battle the Gulf a Steam where as the Compass will allow the vessel to take advantage of the stream.
On my vessel I have three compasses, one at the helm, one at the Navigation table, and a hand held and two GPS one at the helm and one at the navigation table.
For serious sailors on passage there are still very real advantages to navigating by compass heading rather than GPS headings.
Agreed. And it is completely underutilized. Please put mine on the mast with big digital numbers.
hvbaker's info is definitely right on for crossing any large bodies of water that have strong currents. For the Gulf Stream in the Straights of Florida, If you use and follow your GPS output to your destination waypoint you will definitely buck the current for most of the crossing, using your compass instead will cause your boat to 'squirt' across the Gulf stream in a soft "S" course trajectory and your total travel time will be considerably less.