Quote:
Originally Posted by sailaway21
To the extent that these devices may take you through the middle of islands, reefs, or areas of strong current they should not be relied upon solely. Laying out and updating a DR track on available charts and plotting sheets, as well as utilizing other sources of position finding, are always essential policies. |
Sailaway's comment above reminds me of the J-Boat skipper who was heading transatlantic from NE US coast to UK a few years back. He plotted a perfect GCR on his big ocean chart, programmed waypoints into the
GPS, and set off. One night the crew on watch was suddenly taken off-guard by breakers dead ahead. The boat got caught in the surf, rolled in to the shallows, and they waded ashore on an unknown (to them) sandy beach. Most of us saw the photos that circulated on the internet of the boat quickly getting swallowed in the shifting sands of Sable Island, a feature that was not depicted on the NOAA hurricane tracking chart of the North Atlantic, on which the skipper had plotted his GCR.
Sailormann, thanks for the chuckle.