Solar Flares and GPS

[sailingdog]

Cam... don't worry... I'll find you and your little dog too!
Umm.. was that my outloud voice... hmm.. better work on that..

[Kernix]

Originally Posted by Tartan34C

Don’t forget, a sextant is useful only when you can see the horizon and a star or other body. So it is unserviceable during nighttime, fog, cloudy days and during storms. In short it is not useful for navigation most of the time.

There is an interesting difference between modern and traditional navigation. I think a GPS dependent navigator tends to relay on one source of information and is not trained or proficient in other ways to pilot the boat. So a loss of GPS information for just a few minuets is enough to get him into trouble under the right circumstances.

A traditional navigator on the other hand understands that none of his methods are fool proof or available a great percentage of the time so he is very careful and maintains many sources of information and grades each one to evaluate the precision of the incoming data. He can get into trouble but has more options so is less likely to get into trouble then someone using a “better” method that is rarely unavailable but is subject to occasional failure.

Some people are better prepared then others so the loss of GPS is not a problem for everyone but for the most part the GPS user does not have enough experience or skill to navigate without the GPS. I think the GPS gives the newcomer a false sense of security and encourages people to venture offshore before they have enough experience or skill.
All the best,
Robert Gainer

I'm still a newbie but being a history buff and lover of "old-school" thangs, I definitely would prefer learning navigation with a sextant and of course via GPS, than just GPS alone - kind of a homage to sailors use cruised before radar, GPS units, radios, etc.