do people still use a compass?

Sep 20, 2006
155
Hunter 49 Mystic CT
Just installing a compass does not finish the job.

You need to "swing" the compass to create a deviation table. I would venture to say that most recreational sailers have not swung their compass in the last five years, if ever. Certainly they are not keeping a deviation table near the primary compass. I'll count myself as one of those.
When I bought my boat I had both compasses swung. They had different deviation tables too.
I haven't looked at the table since. I've become too comfortable with GPS.
Am I living in a fools paradise?
 
Mar 20, 2012
3,983
Cal 34-III, MacGregor 25 Salem, Oregon
Just installing a compass does not finish the job.

You need to "swing" the compass to create a deviation table. I would venture to say that most recreational sailers have not swung their compass in the last five years, if ever. Certainly they are not keeping a deviation table near the primary compass. I'll count myself as one of those.
When I bought my boat I had both compasses swung. They had different deviation tables too.
I haven't looked at the table since. I've become too comfortable with GPS.
Am I living in a fools paradise?
I think that when a reference to direction is needed from the compass as a "last resort", having a close general direction, and knowing its only a close general direction is better than no direction at all.....

many years ago we were on the ocean salmon fishing without any swell, glass smooth, and the fog rolled in so fast we didnt have a chance to run....visability seemed to be about one boat length (20ft) and the only way to even keep fishing in a straight line was to keep an eye on the compass.... no GPS in those days.

and whether the compass was adjusted correctly or not, we knew which general direction east was... there was no way to tell otherwise...
 
Jan 22, 2008
551
NorSea 27 Az., Doing the To-Do list
From my past I will cite 3 of items that I find useful any time this comes up.



Before I start, if you are day sailing ONLY, fine, skip it as it's most likely not needed. ;)



No 1. As we were heading south, miles off the Baja in the pacific, I was on the mid watch, Jill was sleeping. I was using our Standard Horizon chart plotter and hand steering (can't remember why????). The weather was OK, not bad, but far from calm. It was a moonless night and the sea was running from our aft stbd quarter. So...I shut off the light on the compass. I then tried to hold my course using the different modes of the plotter, like the chart mode (course up), the “Navigation mode”, and the “Highway mode”.
I realized in short order how valuable our compass was!!! With the chart plotter I was always trying to react to was had already taken place! The refresh rate was just NOT fast enough to give me a heads up on what was going on. I was steering in the past. Like in the aircraft lingo, you always want to be ahead of the craft, not following it. With the plotter I did not get the feedback that the compass provides when you see that card swing, as in how fast and the return on the card. I was just not getting the sensory input I wanted.
During a summer in the Sea of Cortez, we know of two boats that had to weather a sudden Chubasco (BIG sudden wind).



No 2. In this case, the couple woke up just fine, knew they had to get underway, They were upping anchor FAST. Once the anchor was up, the plotter had not yet come up and it was dark, they guessed at the proper direction, hit a rock and sunk! The craft was later raised by a lot of help of others, but you get the idea.



No 3. The second boat was very good friends of ours. We anchored on the south side of a spit of land, they in a small bay on the north side. Not visible to each other but less than a mile apart. Once again, a Caubasco, they upped anchor fast and once more, the plotter was not up! It it was not for a small hand compass, they would have also come to greaf. They told us they came within 15 foot of the rocks!!



After those 2 incidents, Jill and I now place a small document protector (with blue tape) on the cockpit forward bulkhead, just under the compass. After we anchor and are set, I use the hand bearing compass to get a mag reading of the exit course. Should the need arise, we can drop the anchor road and be underway, in the proper direction, as fast as we can start the engine! We also have a hand bearing compass over our birth and I can tell you, we sleep well! :)



Greg
 
Aug 20, 2010
1,399
Oday 27 Oak Orchard
One final thought on the matter. Remember the Polynesians and Norse were extremely successful open water navigators sans electronics and compasses. No instrument can replace the skills of a competent mariner and at the end of the day a compass is an instrument subject to being broken like any other.
 
Oct 18, 2008
45
Jeanneau 49DS Seattle
I have lots of GPS on board but in the middle of the Coral Sea the whole fleet did a couple of 360's during a squall and the GPS was all over the place, we steered by compass..........Of course, I don't use my bilge pump at all because there is not a drop on deck, maybe I should Deep Six it too.
 
Sep 5, 2011
43
MacGregor Venture 25 Delavan, WI
As mentioned before, I have a compass (purchased on eBay from Australia, so I"m still getting used to it pointing backwards to our northern hemisphere compasses) and I have the hand bearing compass too. At night, at anchor, when I frequently awaken, I check it to see if the wind has shifted. I sleep better knowing my anchor is holding fast. On another note, what is the liquid in the compass and at what temperature will it freeze?
 
Sep 5, 2011
43
MacGregor Venture 25 Delavan, WI
Technology has come so far. 40 years ago, having to navigate through the coral heads in the Bahamas, our GPS was a RDF. Some of you are probably too young to know what that is or how it worked.
 
Oct 17, 2011
2,809
Ericson 29 Southport..
Oh no. I still own an RDF. Retired albeit, but...

The compass is filled with a type of mineral oil, I've never heard of one freezing.

The Australian compass huh? That may answer a few more questions I've had about some navigating techniques..

Ok. Compass. Put one somewhere. If you don't like them, lie about actually owning one. If it were me, I would put it in the same box as the Super Penalpump 2000, (with digital readout). The box of shame.
And while I don't actually own such an apparatus, (ok, maybe I'm lying), I do however have maybe a half dozen compasses on board. In the same box as the pump, that way nobody will get in there and play with them.

Oh yeah, a 5 dollar engineering compass from chinamart will do everything you need including replacing a 75 dollar Davis handheld. If coastal, that is a QUICK line of position. Where no such line would exist without one. A line on a chart. Paper ones. And a pencil. Sharp on both ends, that way you can fall across it sorta like a samurai in defeat..
 
Mar 6, 2012
357
Hunter H33 (limited edition cabin top) Bayou Chico
best most reliable navigation is your compass, handheld gps or some other way to get lat long numbers (back up, back up, back up this system), and paper charts, to make things faster get duplicate charts and an aviators kneeboard. this system will never fail you inshore because the gps isnt completely necessary, compass headings and marker identification will get you everywhere you need to go no matter what, the gps is invaluable off shore since it is way more accurate and quicker than sextants, make a faraday box and keep a couple of handhelds there and have one for the cockpit, plot everything on the paper ahead of time and follow the plan as close as possible, when in your home stomping grounds practice emergency procedures like forced course deviation, alternate routes and resuming navigation after a man-overboard-drills.
 

rfrye1

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Jun 15, 2004
589
Hunter H376 San Diego
Our "newer GPS generation".

I agree with Ricks view of Navigation. Yes I use my mounted compass as Rick D (habit). Just know what to do when the lights go out!!

Which brings me to my point. Our younger GPS/NAV generation (on land) relys so much on turn by turn voice direction anymore, I really don't think they know HOW to read a map-chart. I know my dog could make it home faster than some kids from across town w/o their NAV/iPhone! Does it really matter? Am I getting older? New paradigm? Maybe a binnacle compass in all cars??
Cheers. Bob
 
Feb 20, 2011
8,048
Island Packet 35 Tucson, AZ/San Carlos, MX
Our "newer GPS generation".

I agree with Ricks view of Navigation. Yes I use my mounted compass as Rick D (habit). Just know what to do when the lights go out!!

Which brings me to my point. Our younger GPS/NAV generation (on land) relys so much on turn by turn voice direction anymore, I really don't think they know HOW to read a map-chart. I know my dog could make it home faster than some kids from across town w/o their NAV/iPhone! Does it really matter? Am I getting older? New paradigm? Maybe a binnacle compass in all cars??
Cheers. Bob
Yep, it matters. There are plenty of instances of folks driving/walking into real problems.
 
Jan 22, 2008
551
NorSea 27 Az., Doing the To-Do list
......
plot everything on the paper ahead of time and follow the plan as close as possible, when in your home stomping grounds practice emergency procedures like forced course deviation, alternate routes and resuming navigation after a man-overboard-drills.
We don't plot everything on paper for planning as our plans change a lot as we cruise.

**** BUT **** ANY TIME we are off shore, we have our chart plotter on and working..... AND WE USE OUR Yeoman Chart plotter with GPS!!


It allows me to quickly plot our GPS position on a paper chart (ANY paper chart, even photo of one that I might have)! If, for any reason, we loose all power or GPS signal, I have the past record on the chart and can just pick up with my DR (remember what DR is? :) ).

And we ALWAYS practice when out, an almost endless "what if" stream of thought. :D

Greg
 
Mar 6, 2012
357
Hunter H33 (limited edition cabin top) Bayou Chico
gotta look into that yeoman thing, ive just been learning and practicing old school transcribing of gps lat/long onto the chart with basic tools, but with only two people that are full time liveaboards, if its just another trip to pirates cove for a weekend we dont plot anything on the chart physically as its only a day trip and we both know the way quite well, especially in daylight, still enough migrating shoals to throw you for a loop tho, geez, it happened to us last time, shoal had extended beyond the day marker we were trying to read to confirm position just after sundown...plow...4-letter words then back off and continue on while cursing ourselves and taking a good slow assessment to make sure we hadnt been on the wrong side of the mark.
 

Rick D

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Jun 14, 2008
7,182
Hunter Legend 40.5 Shoreline Marina Long Beach CA
What this great thread reminds me of...

...is electronic readers vs. books. We are members of Friends Of The Library. Whenever my wife or I mention to a member we read via Kindles, there is a look of horror and a response that "it isn't the same" and "it doesn't have the feel" and "but, you can't lend it". Now that I think of it, that sounds like me and my compass!
 

rfrye1

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Jun 15, 2004
589
Hunter H376 San Diego
...is electronic readers vs. books. We are members of Friends Of The Library. Whenever my wife or I mention to a member we read via Kindles, there is a look of horror and a response that "it isn't the same" and "it doesn't have the feel" and "but, you can't lend it". Now that I think of it, that sounds like me and my compass!
I am confident sailors and explorers have been arguing new technology for years. This forum certainly makes it very entertaining. From the early navigation issues with accurate Lat/Lon timepieces, sextants, lead lines. Rick D, you can tell your Book Club friends to toss their PC's and re-order an encyclopedia! I'm a few years away from 60 and trying to keep up with technology. Don't always understand it, but use it and embrace it. "Bad Elf" has turned my iPad into a great Nav tool on board while sailing, as a backup, I keep it at my nav station. Same iPad is my reader, movie/TV viewer, email, connection to my office, AND ........ It has a COMPASS!!!!

Great thread. Bob.
 
Jun 8, 2004
853
Pearson 26W Marblehead
do some people still use a compass ?

You gotta be kidding Ive been sailing for over 50 years. I wouldnt leave the harbor without checking some bearings on my compass to make sure its in proper working order. Sail without a compass forgedaboudit! I still have all my old charts and log and yes I still use them As far as new electronic charts and other gadgets Im sure they are fine for some. but as an old salt who has logged many miles on the coast of Maine I stick to the old style of navigation from days gone by.
 
Oct 2, 2008
3,810
Pearson/ 530 Strafford, NH
We're back

Back on post #16 I mentioned our loss of instruments through the Sea-Talk communications line. Well the tech found 1 wire that was causing the whole system to shut down. Now everything is back running better than before and I got educated on how the system is set up. Can't wait to get going and break something else. :D

Got a new appreciation for the movie "Space Cowboys".

All U Get
 
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Jan 27, 2008
3,086
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
I was out in pea soup fog once and a small power boat maybe 16 or 17 feet came up and asked what way to get to shore. This was open ocean. Wrong direction and he was heading to England. I had a little ball compass on my keychain so I threw it to him and said head north (directly to the beach where I was). That people would go out on the ocean with potential for fog without a compass is a scary thought. I guess the guy is a Darwin award potential winner. You could always magnetize a needle and suspend it from a string to at least see where North is.
 
Mar 30, 2013
700
Allied Seawind MK II 32' Oologah Lake, Oklahoma
Way back in the dark long ago part of my Navy job was operation and maintenance of the electronic navigation equipment, Navsat, Omega and the inertial navigation system. We were just starting to see deployment of GPS on subs when I got out, my boat had a civilian unit that was OK but our set up wasn't optimal.
Part of my job required learning the basics of navigation by visual, RADAR and instrument fixes and by DR. I even had a few lessons on using a sextent but I was a little dense and never quite mastered it, partly because opportunities for use were a little scarce on a submarine.
These days I sail in a fair sized lake that I have been playing on for nearly 40 years off an on barring a pea soup fog I don't think I could get lost on that lake as long as i was sober and concious. That being said, there is no way I would take any kind of boat out of sight of land with out a paper chart and a compass (and a back up) no matter how many whiz bang high tech tools I had available, just doesn't seem prudent.