Floating Compass

I had 2 of those Casio Pathfinder watches about 10 yrs ago or more. Definitely a neat gadget since I traveled from sea level to over 14,000 ft. Alas, neither one lasted much beyond the warranty (each cost over $200--I was working and could afford it.) Hopefully, Casio has improved their duribility/water-resistance. I love Casio watches, but their duribility is definitely suspect.

My Garmin gpsmap 76 provided the same info (plus much more) and lasted over 7 yr--a battery pin broke off this year.

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

Good post and good call Gringo. Actually I was a little tongue in cheek in this one. My Tissot is nice but has its limitations, one being for some reason wet fingers have trouble turing on its features when touching the face which can mean NO compass which is a significant limitation for us sailors. Nothing is perfect I guess but yours looks good to me....Pirate

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

Gents, I believe you both have the same electronics inside your watches.

I lusted for the Tissot while in Auckland a few years back, but ended up buying a dressier Tissot model.

Those laser-guided gizmo guts are now found inside a number of watches, (like the Casio), but Tissot may have been the first and best at it.

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The Wind Is Your Friend...

I actually bought the Casio as my 'everyday, DIY, beat-the-hell out of it, do carpentry, painting, welding, automechanics, and go sailing geek watch. It's to spare my "dressier" watch, which to my wife's chagrin is a Luminox Black Out.


It doesn't do ANYthing except tell the time. Oh, and glows continuously. But like all analog watches, if I point the hour hand at the sun, I know that half the shortest distance between that hand and 12:00 on the watch corresponds to 'south'. That's enough compass to get home.

Yes, I have finally gotten to a place in life where I do not own socks or a necktie. I wear shorts and t-shirts every day of the year, and quite often go for a week or two at a time without any form of shoes.

A clean t-shirt and a clean dive watch is about as close to dressy as I get any more.

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Island life in the Devil's Triangle:
http://2gringos.blogspot.com/

Yes! Getting close myself.

Here (for me), getting dressy means putting something on my feet other than Hawaiian slippers or bare feet (not counting water shoes, till launch). Shorts and tee shirts with an occasional Hawaiian shirt is all that's needed.

I haven't worn a watch in almost 10 years (except when diving).

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Hobie Island Sailing since 2006

I realize that with time being displayed everywhere, a wristwatch is somewhat of an anachronism.

But then so am I.


And I refuse to carry my cell phone with me everywhere I go. I check messages when I get home. I had plenty of years tied to that leash.

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Island life in the Devil's Triangle:
http://2gringos.blogspot.com/

And I too can only hope for my Tissot Touch to one day fail so I can too be foot loose and fancy free like you Hawaiians are, but till then not slipping on this watch each day would amount to the onset of dementia...Pirate

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

Yep. I can't even sleep at night without my watch.

Or was that my blankey......I forget...

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Island life in the Devil's Triangle:
http://2gringos.blogspot.com/

Apparently reading from your earlier posts Gringo.neither can your wife...LOL..Pirate

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

Whew!! Thank you for all the great ideas. All summer and on a trip this last fall, I used the GPS and started thinking, "What would I do if something happened to my GPS?" So I just finished a nautical navigation class for kayakers. -Great class to take. One more way to be as safe as you can be out on your water travels.- The idea of the class was to learn to navigate without any electrical devices. Hence, the need for a floating compass and where to place it.
Chekika, I still haven't figured out how to find the VMG on my GPS, but that will be for another thread.
Gringo, I looked at your watches, but, Whew!! a bit steep.$$$ Do you find when you're sailing rough waves and not steady, the reading isn't either?
I'm not yet to the point of feeling comfortable drilling a hole in the body of my AI. But I can see that would be a perfect solution.
NOHUHU, that little compass in your photo looks like what I'll try. Do you know if it is a Suunto orca pioneer compass? So, velcro will stick well to the AI hatch material? I have read in some threads, it doesn't stick well at all to the body of the AI, but the hatch is of a different material.
And Gringo, I have always felt the Pacific Northwest waters have a real beauty to them, but.......dang, the water you sail in is unbelievably beautiful.
Let me come out there. please..please... You and Gringa could drag me behind your TI and I could gather conch, take underwater photos, swim Dooley to a island so he could find a good pee tree..... etc.etc.
Also, thank you, to everyone else who contributed to this thread. Good reading and advice.

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Fly'n C Lion

Fly'n,

There is a good discussion of GPS use at http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=27236&hilit=goto%2C+gps%2C+route&start=75

I don't have time to look at this thread, but I will assume you have a Garmin GPS. You can change the info shown in various windows (data fields). On a page with a variety of data fields, click on Menu, and pick off "change data fields." At that point each data field can be changed to some other data field. One of the data fields is "Velocity Made Good." VMG is your speed toward some destination--like a waypoint. Therefore, in order to see your VMG you must chose a destination (wpt), when it asks GOTO? pick it off. Now, when you move, your GPS displays the VMG toward that wpt. If you are going towards it, at any angle, it will tell you your VMG. If you are going away, it is a negative VMG. This is a great piece of info when you are tacking--it instantly tells you whether your tack is worth while. If the VMG does not seem impressive, switch to the other tack--it should be better.

Nothing teaches you to use a GPS like actually using it--every time you go out. Even use it when you are walking around your neighborhood. Of course, it helps to read the manual, but you can read the manual until you almost go blind, you still need to get out and see how your GPS display behaves as you use it.

I'm leaving for Ft De Soto and the 2011 Everglades Challenge preparations and launch. See you all in a couple days.

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

Good luck and don't lose your way Keith...Pirate

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

It is. this is a scruffy little country from the beach up, but oh.....from the beach down it's pretty amazing. Sunday we were out in winds we later found were gusting to 27 kts. We cut that trip short. We were just getting too beat up.

Then on Wednesday afternoon the wind dropped and we took the afternoon off for the most leisurely sail we have had yet, since we got the TI. The wind dropped to less than 5 kts. for a couple hours and we were out almost to the reef. It made for boring sailing, compared to what we usually see.
But the calm as the winds changed direction made for some calm seas and some decent photos.
I'll stick a bunch of new photos up on the blog in the next day or so, for those who like this kind of stuff:

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Island life in the Devil's Triangle:
http://2gringos.blogspot.com/

Your compass has fur on it, but I see you were pointing strait north.

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Hobie Island Sailing since 2006

Dooley the "Direction Finder"!

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The Wind Is Your Friend...