Back when charts were lyfe.
Could you imagine the rigging bay at the local boat ramp on a Sunday morning, pulling the sextants out of the padded felt lined cases, spit cleaning the compass glass. Then off you go making sure you have land in sight the whole way as well as looking out the front of boat for sand bars “Imagine having to pay attention”
Maybe I’m showing my age here, but our old man had a 21” Dehavlen with twin 45 Volvo Pentas, we would line up the Bald Hills radio tower and the sand hill at Tangas until his left nut got itchy then we would turn 30deg to port, only then would he waste paper & turn the State of the Art Furuno fish finder on. As kids this was white man magic & the old man used to string us along with all sorts of bullshit stories about how it worked.
Fast forward 40 years Marine Electronics can tell you which side of the boat the fish are hiding, what type of bird just flew past the radar, how bad the current is running & how many days the beer will stay cold for if we stay stuck on the sand bar!
Has our new technology made us complacent to the dangers of the sea? How many skippers could honestly say they could navigate home in the dark with no electronics? I can tell you the bearing of 210-deg “taking into account for wind & Tide” would steer me from Bulwer Point to the boat ramp until I could see the lights where I launched from because my old HDS gen #1 would switch off when it felt like it, normally leaving me running home on the Navionics app & good luck.
I personally look at my safety & that of my crew as my responsibility, I log on with VMR or coast guard, I text at least one mate just to piss him off because he is working, then send brag pics back at ramp.
As far as safety goes the current platform of Marine Safety has lifted the chances of surviving a Marine Incident 10-fold, Epirbs, Satellite phone’s, VHF DSC not forgetting products like life cell, flares ETC.
Please don’t get me wrong I’m not shit canning Marine Electronics “I sell them for a Living” but it concerns me how essential skills are removed from society with technology, imagine not having speell chacka on your computa!
If your keen on following our blogs as we go leave a comment & let me know, I will try to answer what I can as we go If I don’t have the answer I’m sure I can find somebody that does.
I will try to cover Marine Electronics set ups, Transducer Installation & keep you all up to date with the latest Industry news.
I will try to cover Marine Electronics set ups, Transducer Installation & keep you all up to date with the latest Industry news.
Talk soon
Dick
Dick
