Mathew here is a repost of something I wrote on the subject previously.

Hey gang,
I guess I am going to go weigh in on this. Go where angels fear to tread.

Sadly, The GPS verses more traditional navigation tools is a conversation that by campfires is more of a theology question. With both sides genuflecing to a given position. Both I beleive are looking at a big operational area through a narrow lense. They are thinking navigation via a single tool. That is recipe for disaster. It is safer and more appriate Rather to appraoch navigation with an then integrated system of both tool and knowlege. Simply said all sides have a measure of truth here. But reall navigation is an integration of a system of tools and a body of knowlege.

As one who goes out into the wilderness looking for the lost in a varity of environments, such things for me tend to go beyond academics. Doing the post mortems on how such situations comes about usually leads to a very few flavors of similar mistakes.

Operator error: The simple truth is tools are just that. The best and most varied tool box in the hands of the unskilled is worthlesss. Captian Hamilton is right. Those who go to sea should know something more then dead reckoning. Understanding spherical navigation having 5 stars in various parts of the sky memorized just makes sense. Knowing how to convert an angle , keeping safe back out routes, and a predictive maritime envrionmental awareness, seamanship, all are essential to kayaking. The single largest problem in Status 3 finds (Dead) is 3 layers of operator error. One of them is ussually an orientation failure. One of them is ussually a communications failure and one of them is ussually a lapse in judgement most often operating beyond skill level. GPS's in the hands of the ill prepared can promote the last error via a flase sense of security. On the other hand a GPS in hte hand s of the ill prepared with a radio is enough to ussually keep one alive. Preparedness is everything. And in respects to navigation preparedness mean the power of knowlege and judgement. Tools will never replace the value of a those intangables

Having the right single point navigation tools for such things make sense and backing them up with nonelectric alternatives (especially in the marine environemnt) is just common sense. Tools can not replace operational knowledge but operational knowledge can replace some tools in some situations. Having more navigation tools in a situation of being lost with no markers is invaluable especially if one knows what to do with them.

Getting lost and staying found is a 3 part equation. Knowing where one is, is only one part of that equation. Knowing how to plot one's postion between a point and the next location is another reckoning orienteering etc. Being able to communicate that position in times of danger is the third part. If any of the 3 parts of that that staying found tripod/equation are missing. The chances of getting lost or worse increase.

A few years back we had a fellow go up into the White MTs, who went up with a cell phone but no GPS and no compass in the winter. We have had others who go up the MT with a GPS but no map..... We have people in Kayaks all the time who go out with a GPS but no radio. People in trouble who can walk help into them selves with a radio and a specific position ussually survive. Navigation and staying found are not single tool issues. When I teach marine safety and survial skills I suggest people look at these things as a system including several tools. Some of thm should be nonelectric.

In spelunking most of us go under ground carrying 5 very different kinds of light sources on the possibility that one or several might fail. (Combustion, chemical electric) I think it makes sense to approach navigation the same way. This reduces the possibility of a single point failure becoming an emergency at sea.

When I was in the Merchant Marines the bridge was equiped with all sorts of traditional navigation tools sextant azmuth finding equipment, compasses both magnetic and corrected. We also carried Loran and SAT NAV Radar range finding etc. We didn't use any of this as single tools. Instead ,we ued them in combination to increase our over all confidence in our position our plot and our LOP. We used each daily to check the accuracy of the other. We also used them daily to check check ourselves out. As a helmsman, I typically blocked all but the magnetic compass to make sure I still could steer by traditional means for 10 minutes every shift. Why? In an emergency there just might be 60 lives riding on that ability and it ought not be rusty.

THe same is true in kayaking. Everyone in the group should be able to assume the navigator role instatly.

I am often called to small airplane crashes. One of the big reasons small airplanes crash is the pilot starts to rely on one nav tool rather then trust his suit of them. The pilot ceases to integrate the information from all his tools. He loses his spatial orientation and invariably goes on intuition. Trusting his gut rather then his tools. Navigation by either fails. NAvigation using both in an integrated fashion works. Think of yourself and your knowlege base as one more part of the navigation system.

If you have a 300 dollar compass a 500 dollar GPS and 15 dollar understanding of basic navigation priciplas your still asking for trouble

Kayaking in the fog is a lot more like flying an airplane then driving a ship in my opinion. Ship Captians are vetted and don't work alone. Pilots and paddlers go out unvetted and work in a small cockpit often alone. Ussually kayakers have less instumentation then a small plane pilot. Thus the need for knowlege is even higher.

The simple truth is that the more robust and integrated your suite of navigation tools are combined with the more skilled you are at both navigation and reckoning the more likely you are to avoid problems, and the more likely me or one of my cronies will have to be called out to try and keep guessing to put a solid lat long on you.

Knowing when to use a tool is as important at sea as it is in the shop. Using a deck compass out in front of you heads up will give you a better average heading. Combining that piece of info in what line is my boat pointed in combination with the information on the tide tables and the information on your watch you can make corerctions for tidal drift. Add a GPS to that and you can know the effect on not only your course corrections but of actual tidal effect on your boat. Put some weather info on it and you have another layer of position and situation understanding.

I can't stress it enough before navigating learn all the skill you can, while navigating buy all the information tools you can. And think system! think system! think system!

As most of you know, I dabble heavily in the tradtional arts. I love messing about with traditional navigation not because of the science but because of the application of a fine art. However Navigation is both an art and a science. My enjoyment is not diminished by having a new tool integrated into my navigation system. I can and do turn it off regularly so I can enjoy joy the art and keep important skils honed. I agree the GPS can provide a false sense of security and people can use that to go beyond what they could do with out a GPS. However a GPS in combination with a radio can also be the essential differnce for those who don't have clue one about navigation. Used in combination they are force multipliers that change out comes.

If you have to prioritize, take it from a SAR guy, don't hitthe water until you have read a book or two on navigation. (its not rocket science) Then buy the waterproof radio first. Then buy the deck compass, Then put a compass on your life vest. Then buy the GPS. In the modern world a GPS receiver cheap as they are is a useful part of an integrated system. However, they should never be viewed as the latest technical advancement that substitutes for the other navigation and reckoning tools.

To the traditionalists I'll offer this reminder. In the old days a signal fire was the only means of transmitting a distress signal. Yes I still can start a signal fire with steel and flint and yes both are packed aboard my yak, but I also keep a radioin my vest. It may be new fangled, but its advantages in an emergency are worth my efforts at modernization. Should I lose my radio howevr, I am still not with out means. Mixing old good ideas with new good ideas is the surest way to survive an emergency.

The oldest joke in my avocation is Support Search and Rescue...Get lost"

ME: I've been busy this year and I need a rest. I'd like to see my SAR bag stay packed fresh and clean and my KBBS friends get real old and salty and full of sea stories. Buy the best system you can know how to use it not in the best of times but in the worst.

!RUSS