View Single Post
Old 03-15-2020, 07:49 PM   #16
rgano
Guru
 
rgano's Avatar
 
City: Southport, FL near Panama City
Vessel Name: FROLIC
Vessel Model: Mainship 30 Pilot II since 2015. GB-42 1986-2015. Former Unlimited Tonnage Master
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,984
Hey there, ex-bubblehead, I was/am a skimmer and was navigator on two DDGs and skipper of an ATF before GPS. We did not have the inertial system you guys had either. Outside of radar landfall, we navigated by stars alone, not even Omega or LORAN A was better than stars, when we could even receive them. Knowing the old Bowditch was kewl, but in 1998, I finally broke down and bought a used laptop for an exorbitant sum and loaded The Captain and a bunch of raster scan charts on it and never looked back. Later on I bought a Garmin chartplotter and I eventually upgraded the analog autopilot on my old Grand Banks 42 (a boat I HIGHLY recommend) to digital and interfaced with my plotter to let it run the routes I plotted. So you're thinking, HA, if an officer can do this, then I with my pre-Navy, enlisted, and post-Navy skills can certainly do that stuff! And you'd be absolutely correct. Oh, and toss the Bowditch and paper charts. There's not time to plot positions running the ICW and usually too rough to take accurate bearings off shore.
__________________
Rich Gano
FROLIC (2005 MainShip 30 Pilot II)
Panama City area
rgano is offline   Reply With Quote