By Richard Crockett
I have always enjoyed features Nick Leggatt has written as they are always to the point, tell it like it really is, and come with years of hands-on experience. So the feature of his that I share today was written in 2015, which means that technology has advanced exponentially, and more worrying means that the headline is probably now more important today than it was almost 10 years ago!
He introduced the feature as follows: To look at the chart-table of a modern sailing yacht one might be forgiven for thinking that the vessel is about to blast off on a mission to the far reaches of Outer Space. Computer screens, chart-plotters, fish-finders, multi-function displays and GPS screens flash an array of data, while the navigator appears to speak some foreign language made up entirely of acronyms and abbreviations: “So, of course, if we look at the GRIBs you can see that the VMG will be better if you head up a bit and don’t sail DDW, even if the GPS says that is the BTW. The important thing is to compare the COG and SOG to the boatspeed…”
Blah…blah…blah, and yachts still go aground or get caught by fierce storms, much as they always have done throughout history.
From there he gets into the nuts and bolts of the issues, and concludes with these words of wisdom: “So next time you set sail on a long coastal or ocean passage, get away from the computer, the GPS and the GRIB files, get up on deck and feel the motion of the boat, enjoy the sight of the gliding, diving birds, look at the clouds, the stars and the moon, and remember that there are other ways to navigate and enjoy sailing!”
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE: Pages from 2015 05 – SAILING Magazine – OCR