
NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: News Item on Over-reliance on GPS
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2008 Nov 06, 01:30 -0500
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2008 Nov 06, 01:30 -0500
I wrote previously: "But the loss of all GPS capability aboard a vessel strikes me as bad planning." And Peter, you replied: "Nah. Stuff happens. Particularly on small boats. Terrible place for electronics." First, may I ask, just for the sake of comparison, is your chronometer electronic? I have often found people extolling the virtues of celestial navigation because it is immune to electrical outages who nonetheless carry only battery-powered watches. You've mentioned previously that you do a survey of the timepieces of everyone on board at the beginning of a passage, and that's a great idea. But do you consider yourself at risk if all timepieces are battery-powered? As for 'stuff happens', yes, I agree. That's why it would be prudent to carry a well-guarded backup GPS unit. Keep it in a waterproof metal case. Surely, you can envision SOME way to keep a backup GPS unit safe from the things that affect electronics at sea. You will note that a sextant would have done those folks in the Nelly no good. It's fine to keep traditional celestial navigation alive, and that's why we're all here, but it's nowhere near as effective as GPS. If you want to carry a sextant as a backup for the backup to the backup, then of course, you're very well prepared. Considering the case of the Nelly again, it's one thing to say 'it's my life to risk' but it's another when you've called on your local coast guard to rescue you in bad weather. Those folks are putting their lives at risk, and if they can't find a vessel because its owners and/or captain can't be bothered to carry a cheap backup GPS unit in a secure case, then something is very wrong. And again, a sextant would not have helped in this incident. -FER --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Navigation List archive: www.fer3.com/arc To post, email NavList@fer3.com To unsubscribe, email NavList-unsubscribe@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---