I sail exclusively on small inland lakes. A compass would get in the way, be useless. If you sailed big water with fog likely then maybe OK but I’d prefer a hand held hockey puck bearing compass. I wore one racing big boats for many years.
Nicholson58 if you go to most competitive sunfish regattas most sail with a compass, even on inland lakes. They help on where to start. You can spot wind shifts. When you look at the fast sailors boat deck. you see lots of pencil numbers of compas changes on the deck as they track the wind.
I’ve sailed this lake for over 60 years. You know more by understanding what persistent shifts to expect for various land forms and wind direction. I applied this to racing on Lake Erie on a Heritage One Ton for 20 years. The shifts hold out 5 miles. The compass was bupkis.
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