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Gary:

I still think that a few steps on paper are easier than wrestling the
whole boat around.

It takes me about five minutes to reduce a sight, using my programmed
calculator. Five more minutes for a second sight, and five minutes to
plot the two LOPs totals fifteen minutes. My method takes less than five
minutes total. But the time isn't that important. What is important is
that the extra time means more steps, more keys punched, etc., and with
that comes a greater possibility for error. That's really the big gain by
being so much simpler. Less possibility for error.

And the method requires a knowledge of celestial, specifically to be able
to do everything except calculate Hc and Zn. It's not for the
uninitiated.

My definition of an emergency where this method would be beneficial is
one where GPS data is unavailable for any number of reasons. But I did
envision something relative to the boat rather than the demise of all the
satellites. I first navigated using GPS when it was brand new, and all
the satellites weren't up yet. It was still great. A blackout period of
about two hours around midnight was the only consequence. I spent a lot
of time explaining to the captain what was going on, even though I was
learning as I spoke. For instance, he insisted on physically adjusting
the fluxgate compass to compensate for variation changes. I thought that
if SatNav could compensate for that automatically, then GPS should also
be able to. And sure enough, I found the right buttons to push by reading
the instructions.

Jim Wilson
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