Finding Yourself In The Spirit of The Old Time Ocean Goers But With A Modern Angle
The field of Marine electronics includes a wide variety of units, from an auto pilot to a radio for communication. The amount of electronics seems to be directly proportional to the size of the boat but a boat GPS and a portable fish finder might be handy in the smallest of boats. A sonar unit known as a fishfinder can be of use even if you are fishing in a rowboat, and if you do find a good spot, it can be marked with an x on the bottom of the boat or even better with a GPS unit so you can find the spot again.
A radio would become a necessity as the boat’s size increased due to the boats ability to travel greater distances to more remote locations. While even a small boat could have a chart plotter usually Radar is reserved for those approaching the’ship’ category. As you move up the line you be adding things like an electronic compass.
A solar battery charger might be an emergency resource to prevent the loss of power to all of this vital equipment though it is by no means a requirement. It is important that all of your marine electronics is properly maintained because you don’t want it malfunctioning in the middle of nowhere unless you are an experienced navigator looking for some manual practice.
Todays boating enthusiast might find themselves lost if the found themselves navigating by the stars with out the aid of electronics..
Our dependence on technology is both a strength and a weakness, especially if it breaks down? In the tradition of the Boy Scouts it might be good to ‘be prepared’ and either have back up equipment or learn at least rudimentary navigation techniques. We live in a day where we have become completely dependent on our technology.
Today many students have become calculator dependent and find even simple addition problems difficult unless they have a calculator. You might think this is an exaggeration, but as I have tutored math I assure you it is quite accurate. We used slide rules back in the dark ages when I went to school. 50 years ago engineers used slide rules to do the math that we do today with calculators,but you will find that very few people remember how to use a slide-rule today.
We can easily forget how function in highly technical areas if we lose the electronics associated with it. In sailing navigation is vital, so there are requirements that require a navigator to know navigation basics just in case of equipment failure so don’t worry if you are on a cruise that you might get lost, unless it is a 3 hour cruise and there is a guy named Gilligan on board.
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