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Trust your instruments / Simrad

ONE-A-DAY

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The Simrad thing on a boat is pretty impressive.

We took the toon about 10 miles up lake to a friends house for some dinner before sunset. 1130 or so we headed home, pitch black, no moon, national forest on both sides of the lake for most of the way, so no homes to find the shoreline. Literally you could not see beyond the bow of the boat.

First time I have driven a boat with out looking up from the dash, just followed the display. My wife watched for nav lights if any other boats were out, I just followed the route to our house that I have programmed in as waypoint on the display.

Like a pilot thing, trust your instruments, very difficult to do but it works, your mind messes with you wanting to second guess it. I kept saying this is wrong, my wife kept saying just follow the route. It took us right to our beach. Pretty cool.
 

Roosky01

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I use the Simrad all the time. If you boat at night, like we frequently do, it’s a lifesaver.
 

Done-it-again

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We would do this all the time coming back from fishing the islands out of Pedro using radar. Didn’t have the issue running aground. But other boats and especially tugs towing barges. Need to watch out for that cable.
 

C-Ya

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Here in South Florida……..

Whenever I have a large yacht on the intracoastal I will load the the bridges into my waypoints. The reason why I do this is too keep from waiting at bridge. If I know the bridge opens at a certain time, I can use the waypoint to back off or increase speed so that I arrive at bridge when it’s opening. Setting the waypoint really makes this easy.

If I am headed to Bahamas…… I set waypoint, then watch Netflix movies, while keeping watch. I love autopilot!
 

Happy Smitty

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Back in the 80s 90s we used a LORAN to get us back to Dana Point Harbor on those foggy days. Then the new GPS base technology came out and was a game changer especially for taking the boat to Cabo. It is dark out on the ocean at night. For the river at night I still use the faithful handheld spot light off the bow.
 

sirbob

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Back in the 80s 90s we used a LORAN to get us back to Dana Point Harbor on those foggy days. Then the new GPS base technology came out and was a game changer especially for taking the boat to Cabo. It is dark out on the ocean at night. For the river at night I still use the faithful handheld spot light off the bow.


Haha old days of LORAN…

Coming back from Avalon and listening for the bell at the jetty coming into Alamitos Bay…

I hear the bell …

Hmm now it’s getting fainter…

My coordinates say I should be right in the jetty…

Then I realize the stern is lifting…

Oh shit - Im just out side the jetty and about to get caught inside the surf line!!!!

Hard reverse 😳

Almost ran right on the beach !
 

ToMorrow44

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The Simrad thing on a boat is pretty impressive.

We took the toon about 10 miles up lake to a friends house for some dinner before sunset. 1130 or so we headed home, pitch black, no moon, national forest on both sides of the lake for most of the way, so no homes to find the shoreline. Literally you could not see beyond the bow of the boat.

First time I have driven a boat with out looking up from the dash, just followed the display. My wife watched for nav lights if any other boats were out, I just followed the route to our house that I have programmed in as waypoint on the display.

Like a pilot thing, trust your instruments, very difficult to do but it works, your mind messes with you wanting to second guess it. I kept saying this is wrong, my wife kept saying just follow the route. It took us right to our beach. Pretty cool.
I had to do the same thing with my Garmin when we rented a lake house and it was pitch black. Just followed the bread crumb trail and ended up right next to the dock. Didn’t see the dock until about 10ft away.
 

Maw

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Left Cherry Cove early one morning last summer, headed South and trolled the Slide all day for Yellowfin and Dorado. Started heading back up as darkness fell then the fog rolled in. 40 miles on just instruments, couldn't even see the bow pulpit. Shitting bricks the whole trip. Followed our departure track back to our mooring and got within five or so feet of our can at which one of my son's grabbed the whip and I could start breathing again. Impressed with what a modern electronics package can accomplish.
 

riverroyal

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I had to do this at powell in a monsoon deep in canyon. I always use the breadcrumb feature.
 

stoker

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We used Garmin charts/gps on our trawler. Once in a while the charts will be off and show you traveling onshore while you may be 100’ feet or so from land. Anyhow we made our first crossing across the Sea of Cortez headed to Mazatlan. The weather was perfect until we were 10 miles or so from the entrance to the harbor When a huge storm rolled in on us. It was about 3 or 4 in the morning, pitch black out with rain and lightening striking all around us. It’s never a good idea to enter an unfamiliar port at night especially with zero visibility. After a brief discussion with the wife we decided to trust our instruments and take cover in the harbor. The entrance was real narrow and had jetties on both sides. I just focused on the gps and didn’t bother looking up because I couldn’t see past the bow. Luckily the charts were spot on and once inside the harbor it cleared up a bit and we were able to make it to the first empty dock we saw.

Another time in Panama we were left high and dry due to the charts being off.
 
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MeCasa16

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3C38C218-FB27-4E62-97B1-773B2CEC0A05.jpeg

This little device can get you down on the ground safe with zero visibility if we had to. Trusting the instruments takes a lot of practice, but I bet my life and your’s on it. :)
 

Desert Whaler

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Reminds of the time I took my 15 Whaler to Catalina in pea soup fog.

I threw a cup over my stern light cause it was reflecting off the fog so bad.
Then I took a heading on my GPS and turned that thing off cause the screen was so bright in my face, couldn't see shit, and I ran off the compass.
What is so unusual is that the fog disorients you so bad, you'll do circles if you don't drive off a compass or plotter/ gps.

I swear, I kept having to keep turning the wheel to the left over and over again. . . I would've bet $100 I was just doing a big left hand circle.
After about 45 minutes of driving in the soup and what seemed like constant left turn corrections, the fog lifted . . . I turned on my GPS and I was exactly on course.
I remembered what my Dad said once, "Compasses don't lie" . . . I was sold.
 

sirbob

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And don’t forget to check the dates on the charts - you have to advance the compass degree for every year that goes by. A 10 year old chart can mean a big difference in where you think you are vs where you really are.
 
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