When
you are out on the water, one of the exciting ideas is that you can go
anywhere you want to go. This idea can be to the detriment of all on
board because in actuality you cannot go anywhere you want to go
without good navigation skills. This 1-Hour Navigation: is directed at The
E-Series/C-Series Chart Plotter video will have you plotting
you course in record time. Good basic coastal navigation is important
because most people spend their time mostly on the coast.
Whether on the inland
waterway, the ICW, or on
the ocean near the coast, some basic coastal navigation skills and
information is important to keep us safe.
Some navigation tools used today are the same as the ones used for centuries. Our eyes can never be underestimated for reading the color of the water for depth or reading ripples on the water to tell us about rocks or shoals. Today these shallow and dangerous areas are usually well marked but one must stand watch and be alert just in case an area is missed or a storm has blown through and changed the bottom. Identifying the markers is a part of basic coastal navigation that can keep us safe. “Dead reckoning” is sighting land marks on shore to tell you where you are. Lighthouses have been a good source of help for guiding boaters for centuries. They are an easy to spot landmark for dead reckoning. In days of old, some seaman set out birds to find land. If the birds just circled around they knew the land was far off. But if the birds flew straight away, they knew land as close by and would follow them.
The Navigator 1959 Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com
One of the first tools created was to measure the depth of the water instead of guessing by the color. A lead line was weighted with markings on the line and on the end of the line an instrument would bring up small samples of the bottom. No samples would mean a rocky bottom, sand a sandy bottom and so forth. The next tool invented was the magnetic compass. Columbus used a and a chart drawn on sheepskin. By using his compass for his heading, by measuring his speed with bubbles on the water and measuring time by the sun he thought he could calculate his position. We know Columbus was off by quite a bit. Unlike Columbus and the weather man, who hardly ever gets it right, we need to be more accurate than that.
Then a knotted line was created to used to calculate speed. The navigator would stand on the stern and toss the line in. As the line hit the water, he would turn the 30 second hour glass and count the knots that slipped through his hands until the sand ran out. This told him “knots” per hour and we still use this term today for “nautical miles per hour”.
Christopher Columbus Italian Navigator Framed Art Print
Greatbatch, W.
Buy at AllPosters.com
We now know how lucky we are to live in a time where precise navigation tools and instruments can tell us where we are on the water. Charts are much more precise. We just need to learn to read them and apply their information. We still need a good compass to tell us the direction we are going and together with the chart we can point our vessel in the direction we want to go. With parallel lines we can draw a line to the precise spot we want to go and dividers translate distant into speed on the chart. These basic coastal navigation tools can help us create an overview of where we are. But some others things happen along the water highway that affect how we travel on the water. We must take these elements into consideration and remember that they are ever fluctuating. The effects the current has on the vessel and the effects the wind has when pushing on the vessel can greatly determine where we end up and how fast we get there. These can take us off course and make us miss our mark or destination if we are not alert to them. The GPS
is
an excellent tool for
basic coastal navigation.
The navigational skills of any skipper takes practice to improve and can be an exciting part of boating or sailing. It is an art as well as science and very satisfying when we do it right! Then we can really go wherever we want to go.
Whether on the inland
waterway, the ICW, or on
the ocean near the coast, some basic coastal navigation skills and
information is important to keep us safe.Some navigation tools used today are the same as the ones used for centuries. Our eyes can never be underestimated for reading the color of the water for depth or reading ripples on the water to tell us about rocks or shoals. Today these shallow and dangerous areas are usually well marked but one must stand watch and be alert just in case an area is missed or a storm has blown through and changed the bottom. Identifying the markers is a part of basic coastal navigation that can keep us safe. “Dead reckoning” is sighting land marks on shore to tell you where you are. Lighthouses have been a good source of help for guiding boaters for centuries. They are an easy to spot landmark for dead reckoning. In days of old, some seaman set out birds to find land. If the birds just circled around they knew the land was far off. But if the birds flew straight away, they knew land as close by and would follow them.
The Navigator 1959 Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com
One of the first tools created was to measure the depth of the water instead of guessing by the color. A lead line was weighted with markings on the line and on the end of the line an instrument would bring up small samples of the bottom. No samples would mean a rocky bottom, sand a sandy bottom and so forth. The next tool invented was the magnetic compass. Columbus used a and a chart drawn on sheepskin. By using his compass for his heading, by measuring his speed with bubbles on the water and measuring time by the sun he thought he could calculate his position. We know Columbus was off by quite a bit. Unlike Columbus and the weather man, who hardly ever gets it right, we need to be more accurate than that.
Then a knotted line was created to used to calculate speed. The navigator would stand on the stern and toss the line in. As the line hit the water, he would turn the 30 second hour glass and count the knots that slipped through his hands until the sand ran out. This told him “knots” per hour and we still use this term today for “nautical miles per hour”.
Christopher Columbus Italian Navigator Framed Art Print
Greatbatch, W.
Buy at AllPosters.com
We now know how lucky we are to live in a time where precise navigation tools and instruments can tell us where we are on the water. Charts are much more precise. We just need to learn to read them and apply their information. We still need a good compass to tell us the direction we are going and together with the chart we can point our vessel in the direction we want to go. With parallel lines we can draw a line to the precise spot we want to go and dividers translate distant into speed on the chart. These basic coastal navigation tools can help us create an overview of where we are. But some others things happen along the water highway that affect how we travel on the water. We must take these elements into consideration and remember that they are ever fluctuating. The effects the current has on the vessel and the effects the wind has when pushing on the vessel can greatly determine where we end up and how fast we get there. These can take us off course and make us miss our mark or destination if we are not alert to them. The GPS
The navigational skills of any skipper takes practice to improve and can be an exciting part of boating or sailing. It is an art as well as science and very satisfying when we do it right! Then we can really go wherever we want to go.