My Mk I Mod 0 eyeball isn't quite what it used to be. Glasses help.While I may have some of the new tech on my boat (chartplotters, AIS), I still practice and enjoy the fine art of sailing. There's nothing wrong with the Mk 1 Mod 0 eyeball!
Set your watch back 20 years
- Thread starter Tiffany
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When I had cataract surgery I was given options, to have good near vision, good distance vision or one near and one distance. i opted for the distance vision. On a good day I can spot a small buoy over a mile away. On the other hand, I can't read small print or low contrast print worth a damn, cheater glasses help a lot.
Not quite ready for cataract surgery yet, but I know it's coming.
Also this:
6 Pilot Rules that Everyone Should Live By
The principle of “Aviate, Navigate, Communicate” is a fundamental tenet in aviation. There have been numerous aviation studies conducted revealing that pilots can become so engrossed in troubleshooting a problem that they inadvertently neglect their primary task of flying the aircraft.
The sailor's equivalent is "keep your eyes outside of the cockpit." Remember also that COLREGS says in Rule 5 (Look-out) that "Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision."
Note the "as well as" phrase, which means that eyes and ears come first, before instruments.
6 Pilot Rules that Everyone Should Live By
The principle of “Aviate, Navigate, Communicate” is a fundamental tenet in aviation. There have been numerous aviation studies conducted revealing that pilots can become so engrossed in troubleshooting a problem that they inadvertently neglect their primary task of flying the aircraft.
The sailor's equivalent is "keep your eyes outside of the cockpit." Remember also that COLREGS says in Rule 5 (Look-out) that "Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision."
Note the "as well as" phrase, which means that eyes and ears come first, before instruments.
My father was a professional artist. Gradually, his paintings were becoming blurry and the color pallet drab. I talked him into cataract surgery, and a week or so later he was back to painting as he had many years before.
Maybe as a last choice, you could have opted for blue eyes ....................... one blew east and one blew west.
No need to opt in to blue eyes. They have been blue since the day I was born and probably before that.
I find the access to real time weather radar, GRIB charts, and Other weather data to be a huge positive. So much better than listening to NOAA weather on the radio and trying to figure out what the days weather will be.
Well, in the words of Yogi Berra, "Nostalgia isn't what it used to be".
Technology can free us from such bothersome things as learning how to use a sextant. It also makes us more dependant on it, and robs us, in a sense, of the romantic notion that we could sail the Ocean Blue with nothing more than our wits and a few good instruments.
I would say that the ancient Polynesians would like something more definitive than dead reckoning and reading the waves to find their way around the Pacific Ocean, but in certainty lurks boredom.
As a mid 30 something I see modern electronics as more of a safety measure. We love to sail by the tell tales! Even carry paper charts although the Great Lakes are well charged. There’s a sense of adventure in being able to use all of the mechanical instruments, sextant, parallel rule, etc etc. We do however opt for the cell phone calculator in place of the slide rule!
Hi,
I‘ve only been sailing for 21 years so I don’t know much about how it done in the good old days. However I am a gadget guy and I love all of the toys. I have a modern B&G touch screen plotter with Wi-Fi and bluetooth. I have a wind sensor w speed and direction, with the plotter calculation and displaying true and apparent wind speed and direction. I also have a below deck autopilot that is linked to the plotter and i can and do use the track route function all of the time. Of course I have an ais transponder (send and receive) and a dsc vhf radio. If you haven’t completely freaked out by now, I also have a bow thruster, anchor windlass, am/fm/ Bluetooth stereo (controlled by plotter, phone, or head unit). Lastly I have a garmin in reach satellite communication device, and I frequently run the Navionics boating app on my Samsung tablet (which can share information with my B&G plotter).
And don’t forget modern sail handling gear like roller furling headsails, roller furling main sails, big powerful winches (some powered), bow, stern thrusters, etc. There are also creature comfort inside the cabin like pressure hot and cold water, refrigeration, propane stove and oven, and lastly heat and air conditioning.
Could I enjoy sailing without all of those conveniences? Of course. But why would I?
I think sailing is safer with modern gear. That includes more accurate weather forecasting, more accurate charts that can be updated easily as shoals form, collision avoidance with AIS, comfortable auto inflating pfd, personal locating beacons, radar, et all.
Barry
I‘ve only been sailing for 21 years so I don’t know much about how it done in the good old days. However I am a gadget guy and I love all of the toys. I have a modern B&G touch screen plotter with Wi-Fi and bluetooth. I have a wind sensor w speed and direction, with the plotter calculation and displaying true and apparent wind speed and direction. I also have a below deck autopilot that is linked to the plotter and i can and do use the track route function all of the time. Of course I have an ais transponder (send and receive) and a dsc vhf radio. If you haven’t completely freaked out by now, I also have a bow thruster, anchor windlass, am/fm/ Bluetooth stereo (controlled by plotter, phone, or head unit). Lastly I have a garmin in reach satellite communication device, and I frequently run the Navionics boating app on my Samsung tablet (which can share information with my B&G plotter).
And don’t forget modern sail handling gear like roller furling headsails, roller furling main sails, big powerful winches (some powered), bow, stern thrusters, etc. There are also creature comfort inside the cabin like pressure hot and cold water, refrigeration, propane stove and oven, and lastly heat and air conditioning.
Could I enjoy sailing without all of those conveniences? Of course. But why would I?
I think sailing is safer with modern gear. That includes more accurate weather forecasting, more accurate charts that can be updated easily as shoals form, collision avoidance with AIS, comfortable auto inflating pfd, personal locating beacons, radar, et all.
Barry
I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I've made a pretty good living developing technology, and my mind definitely gravitates toward the high-tech solution to just about any issue.
But, I guess that I get my fill of technology when I am off of the boat. When I am on the boat, it isn't something I really want as a part of my experience. I sail, in part, to connect to an ancient tradition. It's hard to do that staring at a chartplotter.
That said, my new boat is packed with quite a bit of tech: chartplotter, wind speed/angle sensors, depth sounder, radar, satellite weather, hot/cold running water, a shower, an oven, AC inverter, remote control autopilot, windlass, and a few other gadgets I don't need. I have had the boat for 2 months and I still don't know everything I have. I don't eschew technology aboard so strongly that I would remove any of it. But, if it breaks down, I won't miss it and I won't replace it ... for the most part.
I guess, to answer the question, I would say that almost none of it actually increases my enjoyment of sailing. And, it could all break down tomorrow and I would still just go sailing, as before. Of the tech that I do have, about the only things I would spend any time/effort to maintain are:
I actually resent that my chartplotter tells me the wind speed and angle. I've sailed a lot of years to develop a sense of these things without being told by a computer. Every time I look at it, it makes me just a tiny bit stupider. And, I definitely can't afford that.
But, I guess that I get my fill of technology when I am off of the boat. When I am on the boat, it isn't something I really want as a part of my experience. I sail, in part, to connect to an ancient tradition. It's hard to do that staring at a chartplotter.
That said, my new boat is packed with quite a bit of tech: chartplotter, wind speed/angle sensors, depth sounder, radar, satellite weather, hot/cold running water, a shower, an oven, AC inverter, remote control autopilot, windlass, and a few other gadgets I don't need. I have had the boat for 2 months and I still don't know everything I have. I don't eschew technology aboard so strongly that I would remove any of it. But, if it breaks down, I won't miss it and I won't replace it ... for the most part.
I guess, to answer the question, I would say that almost none of it actually increases my enjoyment of sailing. And, it could all break down tomorrow and I would still just go sailing, as before. Of the tech that I do have, about the only things I would spend any time/effort to maintain are:
- diesel heater (Having a heater means I can sail all year.)
- hot water (I wouldn't have installed it myself, but having a water heater is pretty nice.)
- VHF (Because ... safety.)
- electric lights, interior/exterior (It's good to see and be seen. And, we do sail at night.)
- stove and oven (Tea is mandatory and fresh-baked cookies are awesome.)
I actually resent that my chartplotter tells me the wind speed and angle. I've sailed a lot of years to develop a sense of these things without being told by a computer. Every time I look at it, it makes me just a tiny bit stupider. And, I definitely can't afford that.
I see nothing wrong with having electronics aboard to assist in navigating and safety. My VHF ties into my chart plotter so the DSC button works and will broadcast my LAT/LON automatically in case of emergency. I have wind and depth transducers so I can be more aware of my surroundings. But I know how to sail without all that.
The real issue is those folks who rely solely on their electronics and have no idea of how to handle a vessel without them. Same issue with land vehicles. GPS has our house in the wrong spot. (Intersection at the top of the street.) Delivery drivers call all the time to tell us that they can't find us because we're not where their GPS says we should be. If they'd just look at street names and numbers, they would have no problem finding us.
The real issue is those folks who rely solely on their electronics and have no idea of how to handle a vessel without them. Same issue with land vehicles. GPS has our house in the wrong spot. (Intersection at the top of the street.) Delivery drivers call all the time to tell us that they can't find us because we're not where their GPS says we should be. If they'd just look at street names and numbers, they would have no problem finding us.
Twenty years ago? I was teaching my new bride to sail on a 16 foot daysailer. We used a Garmin GPS72 for our electronics. No charts on the GPS, just waypoints to know where our destination was. Waterproof fishing maps for charts. Run aground? No problem. Jump out into the ankle deep water and push off. Yeah, can't do that with the 37 footer. Sometimes I'd like to downsize but I can still drag the anchor off the bottom so not yet.
Boating was better in the old nostalgic days only because there were fewer boaters and many of us were in our supposed glory days then. Now, I'm just hearing a bunch of "GET OFF MY LAWN" types griping about electronics. Well, I have a few gripes about electronics myself!
The expensive stuff has been crapping out and demanding a fair amount of my time dealing with warranty and installation issues. Thru it all, I have still enjoyed sailing but I can't say for sure whether I enjoy sailing more or less with electronics that function as it should. I haven't put any thought into actually 'measuring' enjoyment comparatively. My dissatisfaction is mostly experienced on land while dealing with outside parties. I can say that I am much happier overall now that my issues with boat electronics have been resolved! I'll also acknowledge that electronics are tools that are available and beneficial to the sailing experience so it makes absolutely no sense to me to avoid keeping up with the future as it unfolds. Do so as you wish.
The expensive stuff has been crapping out and demanding a fair amount of my time dealing with warranty and installation issues. Thru it all, I have still enjoyed sailing but I can't say for sure whether I enjoy sailing more or less with electronics that function as it should. I haven't put any thought into actually 'measuring' enjoyment comparatively. My dissatisfaction is mostly experienced on land while dealing with outside parties. I can say that I am much happier overall now that my issues with boat electronics have been resolved! I'll also acknowledge that electronics are tools that are available and beneficial to the sailing experience so it makes absolutely no sense to me to avoid keeping up with the future as it unfolds. Do so as you wish.
Why? What jumps out? A cruise from Florida to Nova Scotia via SLS is ambitious. My take is that it would be irresponsible NOT to be prepared with everything they have listed. A relatively wealthy couple on what is undoubtedly an expensive boat ... I can't think of any reason why they are not being perfectly reasonable. I'd assume that there are numerous luxuries on board not mentioned, all perfectly reasonable and to be expected.