I'm an ass, and full of crap

[sailaway21]

Question 1: B
Question 2: C



Questions in the Seamanship forum under Magnetic Variation

[sailaway21]

3. D
4. C
5. D

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by sailaway21

3. D
4. C
5. D

#4 took quite a bit of thought on my part. (And I referred to Boater's Bowditch for a hint .)

For this problem, you have to assume there's no bias in the compass. That is: As it's swung, and were you taking bearings on something at 0 magnetic, graphing the deviation you'd have a sine wave with an equal deviation either side of 0. So you take the average of the pSC bearings on Ilha Rasa, which comes to 38 degrees. Since, at a Ship's Head pSC of 210, the pSC bearing on Ilha Rasa is 39, this indicates a deviation of 1 deg. west on that magnetic bearing.

Is that it? Or am I full of crap?

Jim

[sailingdog]

SEMIJim-

How do you like Boater's Bowditch???

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

SEMIJim-

How do you like Boater's Bowditch???

I received it only today, and just started reading it earlier this evening. Looks like I'm going to enjoy it quite a bit. Easy read. For example: To figure out the reason for the correct answer in #4, I looked up "deviation" and was led to a very succinct explanation of how it worked. Took me all of just a couple minutes.

Now I'm kind of in "book overload." I've now got that and Seidman's Complete Sailor to read. Oughtta keep me busy for a while .

Thanks again for the suggestion!

Jim

[sailaway21]

Correcto-mundo, Jim. By definition, the average bearing by steering compass is the steering compass bearing. Therefore, any deviation from that bearing is, well, deviation! Note the irrelevance of variation to the problem. The USCG will sometimes throw in a variation number just to muddy the waters in this same question. It is extraneous. You can also see that the nature of the questions is such that they are not only pursuing problem solving skills but a demonstration of mastery of the underlying theory.

For a nickle, I'll bet you can't tell me where/whom dreams up these wonderful USCG license exam questions.(g)

[sailaway21]

Well, at least the poster withdrew his post.

I did not think I'd see the day that Robert Ganier was attacked for being too harsh on newbies or anything else. A more experienced, thoughtful, and well spoken poster does not exist on sailnet. As was witnessed by his calm and measured response to the unwarranted criticism in the lifeline thread.

I about fell out of my seat reading No Doubt's attack. There had to be some mistake. Nope. Tartan got called an ass full of crap, with extreme prejudice.

There's been some talk about being a little rough on the newbies of late. Question. Which would you rather read, an account of Mr. Ganier's teenage solo crossing of the North Atlantic or another, 'why can't i just call it the right side of the boat?" posting?

Civility is generally the order of the day on sailnet. It should be remembered that the major purpose to the site is informational, and to sell the odd Sospenders. New members, many inexperienced, are essential to keep things going but it is the experienced members that are the attraction in the first place. If your feelings about tying a bowline are more important than tying a bowline correctly then you'd probably be better off over on the Oprah site or whomever is running the Sensitive Sailor Symposium. Let's face it. You've either got a bowline or you've got something that can't be relied upon to hold an arthritic three-legged dog. And, if you can't tie one, you may be many things, including a hell of a nice, and sensitive, guy, but you ain't no seaman. My first bosun's idea of constructive criticism while watching me tie a hitch was, "S'way, you look like a monkey trying to fornicate a football". I learned.

Sailnet isn't harsh. Harsh is hove-to in the Irish Sea with your vessel taking on water for three days and when the wind finally abates, there's no paint left on the starboard side of the ship. Where would you like to learn?

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by sailaway21

For a nickle, I'll bet you can't tell me where/whom dreams up these wonderful USCG license exam questions.(g)

Oh... I dunno... You, mebbe? And others like you?

Jim

[sailaway21]

Yeah, Jim.
I've actually never submitted any questions to the CG, never got over the "us and them" differences and felt I might be "aiding and abetting" but there apparently is a whole group of licensed mariners with nothing much to do other than dream up questions. One of the things that makes the exams difficult is that the answers are multiple choice. The novice thinks, "oh good, all I have to do is get close to the right answer". Those who've taken the exams before know that the wrong answers will be, not just some random numbers but, rather the resultant answer of the most commonly made errors! As you may have seen, apply your variation or deviation the wrong way and your answer will appear in the choices, and be wrong. Devious buggers.

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by sailaway21

As you may have seen, apply your variation or deviation the wrong way and your answer will appear in the choices, and be wrong. Devious buggers.

Devious: Yes. But that's actually proper multiple-guess design methodology. I trained as an instructor in the Army. For any given set of four possible answers (in this case): There should be one that's correct (or most correct), one that's close or looks like it could be correct (or may even be correct, but not as correct as another), and two that are "fairly" obviously wrong.

Multiple-guess test design is actually pretty tricky to get right.

Here's another little multiple-guess test factoid: Many poorly-designed multiple-guess tests have a flaw: A test writer, left to his or her own devices, and not knowing about this little quirk of human nature, will tend to make an above-average number of correct answers be "C." Thus was born the old saw "When in doubt: Choose ``C``." Doesn't work for tests designed by somebody who knows about it, tho .

Jim