Ooof, that reminds me that I need to make a new kick up rudder for my 212This was the result of mistaking an uncharted buoy marking a charted wreck for a mooring ball...
I did not trust Loran at all. Back around 83, I was sailing a Beneteau up to Cape Cod from Long Island in a bit of fog & tried to use a Loran to guide me. That darn thing said that I was in the middle of Fisher's Island, but somehow I still had water all around me.In the early years we easily spent 75% of our sailing time confirming our location and reconfirming. First with LORAN and later with first gen GPS handhelds
Before loran there was RDF. RDF became ADF which was popular in the 60’s.did not trust Loran
It's too bad. DR is a great tool to use in a math and geometries classroom to give context and meaning to what students are learning. I find that if a student learns at least one meaningful way to apply the theories and formulas they learn, then they can better understand how to apply those same concepts elsewhere. The end result is that they don't forget it after the test. They end up having a better vision of how it will fit into their future.Piloting has become a lost art.
Ouch! Even as navigation tech evolves, the groundings do not stop...This was the result of mistaking an uncharted buoy marking a charted wreck for a mooring ball...
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A bit of all the above.I'm a better navigator as time goes by, or is it just caution? Or am I overdue?
LORAN delivered highly accurate repeatable readings. Set a waypoint and every time you go to that waypoint you will be in exactly the same spot. GPS, even today does not have the same accuracy. However, LORAN time delays did not always translate into the correct Lat/Lon coordinates due to local variations in the signals, in some areas, as you found out, the coordinates could be off by a considerable distance. If you recall, NOAA navigation charts of the day had the LORAN time delay curves printed on them. The most accurate way to navigate with LORAN was to use the TDs and not the Lat/Lon. I suspect most folks didn't bother to learn how to use the TDs.I did not trust Loran at all. Back around 83, I was sailing a Beneteau up to Cape Cod from Long Island in a bit of fog & tried to use a Loran to guide me. That darn thing said that I was in the middle of Fisher's Island, but somehow I still had water all around me.
75%, so true for me as well. Once we were close to land, piloting new coastline took nearly all my time. There wasn't much time for sailing when I spent much of my time tracking my location, bearings, speed (currents,ayiyi,..), with a pencil and rules, on a paper chart.In the early years we easily spent 75% of our sailing time confirming our location and reconfirming. First with LORAN and later with first gen GPS handhelds I filled my bookshelves with lists of lights and cruising guides, carefully entering the lat Lons for each and every rock, coral head and shoal in my cruising area. I set guard waypoints.... Our locating effort dropped to maybe 20% of the sailing day. I had more screen time than a teenager with a new iPhone. When the first of the helm mounted chart plotters came out I was an early adopter. I would not be without a GPS plotter at the helm. If I am on a strange boat I have a type of RAM mount for my handheld. There is still a chart on the seat, but there is always a chartplotter at eye level.
Twice!fun fact : definition of local knowledge, 'i already hit that spot'