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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Deviation plot
From: Trevor Kenchington
Date: 2002 Feb 6, 20:08 -0400
From: Trevor Kenchington
Date: 2002 Feb 6, 20:08 -0400
John LeRoy wrote:
> Actually course was never path through the air, for instance. If you want to
> go from A to B, you would draw a line from A to B. That is your course. If
> there is a cross wind, your heading would be different from your course. If
> you were leaving contrails, the path through the air would be visible, but
> it would not have the same angle as your course. Unless there was no cross
> wind, ---- Of course ;)
In English, words can mean whatever the user wishes them to mean.
However, if we are talking accepted technical meanings (in North
American usage at least):
The line from point of departure to intended destination is the TRACK,
not the "course".
The direction to be steered (which amounts to the intended path through
water -- or air) is the COURSE, not the "heading". It differs from the
track by the effects of wind and current.
The HEADING is the direction in which the vessel is pointing at any
specific time. It differs from the course due to errors in steering,
deliberate efforts to steer through waves and the like.
Trevor Kenchington
--
Trevor J. Kenchington PhD Gadus@iStar.ca
Gadus Associates, Office(902) 889-9250
R.R.#1, Musquodoboit Harbour, Fax (902) 889-9251
Nova Scotia B0J 2L0, CANADA Home (902) 889-3555
Science Serving the Fisheries
http://home.istar.ca/~gadus
