lil navigator
My best crew right now is my little navigator. It is my Garmin handheld GPS which tells me a lot of things that I like to know when sailing. In typical order, these are current speed, top speed, average speed, and estimated time to go when getting to a waypoint. I also use it to log my trip, both visually as a track log, but also as total time and distance, along with the items mentioned above. Occassionally, I even use it to confirm my position. I thought I might like a second crew member as auto pilot, which would leave me lots of time to fiddle with the strings, as I often sail solo. For my size of boat and lake however, its just not worth the $. I use a tiller tamer instead, which gives me about 10 to 15 seconds to dive under, get a drink or sandwich before the trim changes on the boat, and I am heading in a different direction.