Saturday 15 November 2008

Day Skipper Course - Day 2

I was soooo.... tired... I have worked about 70 hours this week and it was showing in the course. Included in what we went through in the morning was the lights on boats. There are many many combinations of lights to mean many different things. You need a copy of the regs in the boat to decipher them! Andreas had a simple guide: Learn the common ones and for the rest... if it looks like a Christmas tree... stay clear!

We dealt with some chart navigation in the afternoon. Because I was so tired i made a silly mistake on LAT/LON misreading the LON scale by a minute. I know LAT/LON and have used it for years even writing translation algorithms for converting DCW into other formats, so I was kicking myself for making such a stupid mistake.

Then we went on to Mag vs True on compass/GPS. Now, I knew the idea and was hoping for some help in understanding exactly how it worked but Andreas likes mnemonics and I don't remember mnemonics so got totally confused till in the break one of the other guys on the course suggested an alternative way of remembering. Though his way isn't really mine, it will help me to work out a way for me to remember it. Actually for me to remember things I need to know how they work, not just remember the mnemonic... so I need to figure out what the chart actually shows in the compass rose and then it will all makes sense.

Next week should be easier at work so I will be less tired on the course.

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