Welcome
If you aren’t into navigation last weeks quiz answer might not make much sense so I asked Howard for an explanation as follows
The question mentions we are heading North across The Channel (60 Miles). In the real world a yacht going 6-7 knots is going to take 12 hours to cross The Channel and will have the effect of a flood tide and an ebb.
In a motor boat it does not matter when you leave if you go in a straight line. You will have a variety of tidal flows to the east for the 6 hours of the flood, followed by 6 hours of westward ebb. The rhumb line will be due North but the track on the plotter will display a “S” shaped COG.
In a yacht I suppose they are expecting you to tack once after 6 hours to take advantage of the upcoming ebb. (Not mentioned in question or answer)
In a yacht I would keep tacking regularly (every hour maybe) making progress over the ground North. I would ignore the east west push of the tide until I was more than half way across, because the tides are predictable, a wind shift away from due North is more likely to shape my Navigational plan.
But in reality, I would probably wait for the prevailing SW to return. Every weekend I always beat to windward and come home down wind. Beating home when the weather worsens is miserable.
As for me – Sailing with my skipper Roger we often had an appointment to keep so he would bung some trusted waypoints on the chart plotter and use the engine to counter any adverse winds .
He is also a bit dismissive of “Hand steering “ although my dinghy skills including gybe slaloms have helped out particularly when the engine misbehaved .
If the electronics had failed basic navigation would have come in handy .
Here is a useful starter.
Subject: Basic Boat Navigation: Creating a Route with Bearings to Navigate By
Take a look at this video on YouTube:
I see sea shanties are trending on TicTok , when doing night watches I used the chorus from High Barbary to keep alert
“ Look ahead look astern
Look a weather and a-lee )
See what you might hit , what might hit you , what the weather is doing and anything else .
Most of our sailing is done on the same stretch of river but once a year we venture all the way to Hampton Court
Sailors Sayings
Between the devil and the deep blue sea .
Yachtmasters Quiz
A1.0 The minimum distance sailed for the Yachtmaster qualification is 2500 miles over 50 days including 5passages of over 60 miles 2overnights and 2 as skipper .
Q2.1 You are sailing on a course of 180T ahead is a buoy with light characteristic 0(9)15s which way do you turn?
Incompetent Crew
Once the Dokkum swing bridge opened we set off for Groningen via Lauersoog
Somehow the plan got changed to going back to sea and visiting the Frisian islands (Riddle of the Sands territory)
The marina at Lauersoog is pretty busy but lies in a nature reserve next to a busy harbour
I managed a quick swim before we went out for a meal in a weirdly automated fish restaurant .
Stay safe
Eric Finlayson
