Compass or no compass

Paullingham

Paullingham

New Member
When i get my laser shoudl i get a compass to put on it?
Taking into account i sail either in the river, mouth of the river and in the sea itself where sea fog can come very quickly i would of thought i should?
If so how much do they go for?
Thanks.
 
The silva 103R is about £125, then you pay about another £25 for a bracket. I personally don't use one but then I only sail inland but when I start doing big sea opens I don't think I will bother because I would think it makes you sharper tactically if you use boat angles and basically try to postion yourself well in relation to the fleet while you make small gains on shifts.
 
If you have a shore line to guage ups and downs the compass is not really needed, (unless there is a course change). However, in open water it really helps to point out shifts.
 
Even if you never use it racing, it would be very handy to find your way to shore in the fog. I reckon just once being stuck out there not knowing which way is up would have you wishing you'd spent the money!
 
General public opinion around here seems to be "no compass" on the grounds that it tends to keep your eyes in the boat instead of on the water, your sails, your competitors, etc.
 
Well i think that i would get one incase of fog coming in when sea sailing, after all my mum would rather me have one!
 
Compass or not, be careful out there in the fog. Understand that on your laser you have almost no radar signature; that you are invisible to other boats. Nothing makes you wet your pants quite so reliably as sitting in the fog on a small boat, hearing that "lub-dub-dub-dub" of a huge freighter's diesels, having no idea which way it's coming from because low pitched sounds seem to come from every direction at once, and realizing that he can't see you.
 
i have been in the fog situation many times, as long as you have no major wind shifts than you can keep your self related top where you are. from all my experiences i use the wind to help me out and i just keep track of where i sailed and what way land is according to the wind, once you get near land you can just follow the shore down to where you need to go.

One day at laser canadians last year the whole laser fleet needed to be guided in by whalers because it was that foggy and, the next morning we had to be led out to the course by whalers and then we waited there an hour and a half before the fog cleared
 
Paullingham said:
True, but im thinking if im practicing on my own and it happens!
Click to expand...
I think if I were sailing by myself (and perhaps even if I were sailing with a group) where where there was a chance of fog, I'd stick my hand-held GPS into the bag under one of the inspection-ports and dig it out to navigate back home.

As for a compass while racing, I don't use one, but there are times when I'm out on a longer course away from shore reference points that I'd like to have one to help pick shifts.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
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