You know you're voyaging when the highlight of the day is reaching a waypoint in the middle of nowhere and changing course by 20 degrees. Party Time! Or when the excitement of 48 hours is to see, on an otherwise blank, scrolling screen, a waypoint start to creep down from the top towards the little green boat. I cannot imagine what that is like when heading across an ocean. I think I would get special vertigo or something. Are we really even moving? Are those changing LAT/LON coordinates really happening or is it a cruel joke? It must be something. Joe Engel -----Original Message----- From: Jim & Rita Ague [mailto:ague@iex.net] Sent: Monday, January 15, 2001 3:31 PM To: 'trawler-world-list@samurai.com' Subject: RE: Re: TWL: Computers and autopilots Regarding: Check out Jerry Munson's description of his voyage with SOZopilote from Puget Sound to Florida on Trawler World website. They used the computer to drive the boat. I can second Jerry's experience. The Nordhavn that I crewed for, from Acapulco to Costa Rica, had GPS driving a Windows 95 PC with VNS driving an autopilot. The owner had set the waypoints in advance, no more than a dozen. For 96 hours straight while underway we did nothing on watch but watch the little green boat on the screen go from one waypoint to another and then automatically switch course. Pretty boring. Highlight of the day was to note that we'd be reaching a waypoint in a couple of hours, and then wait to watch it happen. Never had a PC H/W or S/W failure. -- Jim ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ JimAgue M/V Derreen, Monk 36 Trawler http://members.iex.net/~ague/images/NordhavnCruise ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> List, We have used Our macintosh Powerbook and MaxSea to navigate from California to Florida and then through the Bahamas. Even through system upgrades and program upgrades we have never had a system crash. The safety added by watching the boat icon in relation to navigational hazards is invaluable. Of course you do have to look out the window too. We never trust our electronic navigation to the exclusion of visual watch keeping. It is neat to pull up to a tiny atoll after a several hundred mile sea voyage, it always gives me a thrill. Dolph & Bev McCranie The Right Whale

                                                                   ... It

> ... It > is neat to pull up to a tiny atoll after a several hundred mile sea voyage, it > always gives me a thrill. Me too. But what does this have to do with computers and autopilots? <grin> -- Dave Goodman M/V Dragonfly Sarasota, FL

                                                                   ... It

Dave Goodman wrote: > > ... It > > is neat to pull up to a tiny atoll after a several hundred mile sea voyage, it > > always gives me a thrill. > > Me too. But what does this have to do with computers and autopilots? <grin> Dave, I was referring to the accuracy and ease of use of the GPS and computer plotting programs and it is always nice to see your faith justified. Dolph McCranie