NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Level of observation accuracy in medium seas
From: Robert Gainer
Date: 2004 Jul 24, 01:13 +0000
From: Robert Gainer
Date: 2004 Jul 24, 01:13 +0000
Jared said, More to the point, wouldn't the difficulty in tracking where you thought the horizon might be (as you rolled up and down) create more uncertainty in where the horizon was? Unless the swells were very gentle and the boat a large ship? I am not quite sure what you are shooting for in this statement. When you are in the trough of the wave you can�t see anything except the top of the next wave. You are below sea level by, say maybe 30 feet. At the top of the wave when you are looking though the scope you can�t see what�s happening around you, you just line things up as best you can and when you feel the seat of your pants rise above the cabin top and you get the weightless feeling you know the boat has started the trip back down and this is the time to call mark, ready or not. Each time you do this you are reacquiring the horizon, not tracking it. So if a larger wave then the one you are on is within, say 2 miles you will �see� that as the horizon. The conditions I use as an example are from my trip that went into Hurricane Gloria in October of 1976 with 90 knots wind speed. This was with a 31 foot Brit Chance designed sailboat, the �Chance 30-30�. All the best, Robert Gainer _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/