RE: Low Tech (knotmeters in particular)

Eric Johnson (ej@tx3.com)
Tue, 24 Nov 1998 11:05:46 -0800


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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> I once started a thread on the Latitudes and Attitudes BBS about the US
> Naval Academy no longer requiring celestial navigation. I love the
> magazine (L and A), but it seems that most of its readers (or at least
> those who participate in its BBS discussions) have a love affair with
> electronic navigation. I guess I'm just looking to see if there are
> other people out there who believe that one aspect of good seamanship is
> manifested through one's ability to determine location and course
> without the aid of electronics. Any takers...?

I agree completely. Electronics make our sailing so much easier... but it
only takes a small lightning strike or dead batteries or too much water to
render most electronics unusable. So they should not be used as an excuse
not to learn the hard way.

I've just finished reading from the library John Vigors book "The Practical
Mariners Book of Knowledge" and will definitely be buying this book to keep
aboard. One of the things he talks about again and again is his 'black box
theory' which goes something like this:

There's an invisibile black box aboard your vessel. Every time you learn or
perform an act of seamanship you add points into the box. Getting up and
checking the anchor, making log entries, getting position fixes, whipping
loose ends of lines, monitoring VHF16, reefing early, learning navigation,
etc, all add points to the box. Heavy weather, reduced visibility, traffic,
etc take points away from this black box.

He goes an to explain there is no such thing as luck. A sailor who survives
a heavy storm is described as 'lucky', but he survived because he had more
points than the weather took away. The 'unlucky' sailor who capsized or
needed outside assistance ran out of points.

Its an interesting way of thinking about it.

Check out the book - its full of insights like this, arranged
alphabetically. Its published by the International Marine division of
McGraw-Hill.