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    Guide to Small Boat Navigation: Power and Sail
    Guide to Small Boat Navigation: Power and Sail
    Guide to Small Boat Navigation: Power and Sail
    Ebook229 pages2 hours

    Guide to Small Boat Navigation: Power and Sail

    By Charles Farrell

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    About this ebook

    Complete Information On: Rules of the road, How to read charts, How to handle the boat in bad weather and adverse circumstances, compass and compass error, Navigational aides, Piloting, Where to buy charts, The intra-coastal waterway
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFrederick Fell Publishers, Inc.
    Release dateMar 1, 2017
    ISBN9780883915721
    Guide to Small Boat Navigation: Power and Sail

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      Guide to Small Boat Navigation - Charles Farrell

      NAVIGATION

      CHAPTER 1    THE MOTOR BOAT ACT

      I am sure that every boat owner at some time or other has wished he knew more about his craft and how to navigate her. A world of joy opens up to the man who can use his boat, not only for Sunday rides but for weekend trips and family excursions, the way a boat should be used.

      The purpose of this book is to help those who want to navigate more and farther afield than they have previously done, but do not know how.

      In the past few years boating has become a national pastime on such a grand scale that in some areas we are now faced with as big a traffic jam on the water as on our highways. It is the responsibility of each boat owner to learn as much as possible about the Rules of the Nautical Road, and the proper way to navigate his vessel. In this way he will not only have safer trips but far more enjoyable excursions than he ever thought possible.

      The original Motor Boat Act was written into law on April 25, 1940. The only major change since that time was made on September 2, 1958.

      Under the new provision the individual state legislatures are encouraged to require all small boats, which come under the Act, to register with the state. It is also suggested that they use the new Federal Boating Act as a guide to numbering so that the state laws will be uniform. Any boat owner who lives in a state which failed to set up such a system by April 1, 1960, will have to register with the Federal Government.

      The Federal Boating Act also tries to put more teeth into the safety provisions of the law by requiring that any boat which is in an accident with another craft must stop and give assistance, and then report the accident to the proper authorities. I suggest that you find out what local rules your state has set up. In the meantime let’s see what the Federal law requires.

      The Act defines a motorboat as any vessel under 65 feet long which is propelled by machinery. It also divides all motorboats into four classes according to length, as follows:

      Class A — less than 16 feet in length

      Class 1 – 16 feet to 26 feet in length

      Class 2 — 26 feet to 40 feet in length

      Class 3 — 40 feet to 65 feet in length

      I will consider all the rules for each class separately so you can readily pinpoint your particular needs.

      Fig. 1-1 Lights for Class A Boats

      Class A

      If your boat is under 16 feet long, you are in class A and for running lights you must have a combination point forward, showing red to port and green to starboard. Each color of this light should show from dead ahead to 2 points abaft the beam on its respective side. Aft you must show a white light placed higher than your forward light and visible all around the horizon, or 32 points. These are the only rules pertaining to this class under the MBA. If you comply with them, you’re all set.

      I would like to mention at this point that all lights discussed here are available at any boatyard or marine supply store, and these are generally manufactured to shine the prescribed area of arc.

      Throughout these rules we constantly use the term point (e.g., 10-point lights, 20-point lights and 32-point lights). A compass is divided into two basic units of measure, degrees and points. There are 360 degrees in a circle and 32 points, so each point is worth 11¼ degrees. When we say, therefore, that a light must shine 2 points abaft the beam, we mean it must shine 22½ degrees abaft of the beam line of your vessel. This is very important, not only because the law demands it, but because when you come to meeting and passing situations, the arc of your light is a prerequisite for safety.

      Fig. 1-2 Lights for Class I Boats

      Class 1

      Class 1 contains vessels 16 to 26 feet long and the law requires two white lights on boats in this group. Your forward white light must have an arc of 20 points —10 points on each side of the center line — and should be placed as close to the stem as possible. The white light aft must be higher than your forward light and should be visible all around the horizon.

      This is the first class of vessel which is required to have separate side lights. These should be 10-point lights properly screened so they will not show more than 2 points abaft the beam.

      Vessels of this group are also required to carry a whistle of some sort to be used in giving signals. These whistle signals are very important and it is because they have been largely ignored that accidents on our waterways are becoming commonplace. You should know these signals. They will be discussed in Chapter III.

      Classes 2 and 3

      Boats of 26 to 40 feet are in Class 2 and those of 40 to 65 feet are in Class 3. The rules for both groups are the same and will be treated together. Both these classes must have a 20 point white light at the stern and a 32-point white light placed aft, higher than the forward one. You must have separate side lights of 10 points each and a whistle as described for Class 1. In addition you are required to have a bell on board to be used for fog signals. These will be discussed in Chapter III also.

      Sailboats

      Sailboats are also covered by the Motor Boat Act and the following rules for them are set forth.

      Sailboats of 26 feet or under are required to have a combination lantern forward, but no white light aft. This absence of white lights is the chief identifying characteristic of a sailing vessel at night and also holds for boats of 26 to 65 feet, for which separate side lights are required but no white lights are necessary.

      All sailboats, however, must carry a white lantern or flashlight to be shown in time to avoid collision. You must also remember that if you are powered by both sail and machinery you must follow the rules for a power-driven vessel of your size; the rules for sailboats do not apply.

      Penalties

      Last but not least, the Act sets up the following punishments for violation of the rules therein. For operating a motor-boat in a reckless or negligent manner, you can be fined up to $2,000 or sentenced to one year in jail, or both.

      It’s better to keep in mind that these punishments are negligible compared to the loss of property, health and life caused by the improper handling of your boat. A boat can be a wonderful pastime, but like firearms and automobiles, it is no toy and if not handled properly can cause a great deal of damage. I shall try to show you in succeeding chapters how to handle your boat under all conditions and sailing situations so that you will come out safe and happy.

      CHAPTER 2    COMPASSES AND COMPASS ERROR

      If you plan to do any extensive sailing, and you should, you must be able to navigate. One of the chief instruments necessary for navigation is a good compass.

      Types of Compasses

      There are three types of compasses in general use: magnetic, gyro and magnesyn.

      Gyro compasses, because of their size and cost, are used only on large ships. I will merely mention that they work on the gyroscopic principle and produce a bearing which is unsusceptible to variation or deviation. For this reason they are in wide use and often relied upon too heavily.

      A magnesyn compass is nothing more than a magnetic compass which is placed in the truck or high on the mast, where it is quite unaffected by deviation, and sends electrical impulses to magnesyn repeaters anywhere on the ship. This system may be found on some of the larger motorboats, but generally you will be working with a magnetic compass so I will limit my discussion to its use.

      Variation

      A magnetic compass, contrary to common thought, does not point to the true North Pole, but rather to the magnetic North Pole. These are quite a distance from each other and the chance of your compass pointing to true north is slim. It is possible to point to true north, however. Try to picture in your mind the fact that if you are exactly on the other side of magnetic north from true north, the two will line up giving you a true bearing. This same rule works if you are on the other side of true north from magnetic north.

      Since the angle between true north and magnetic north varies from one area to another, you must deal with a compass error called variation. On every chart there is a compass rose to give you the variation for that area. A typical compass rose is shown in Fig. 2-1. You will notice, in the center of this compass rose, that the variation for this area was 14° 45′ W in 1945. You should also notice that it is increasing 1′ annually. In every area the variation either increases or decreases annually and you must compute the actual amount of variation for that year. In this case you would have 14° 15′ plus 16′ (1′ for each year) or 15°01′ in 1961. I would suggest you break out some of your own charts and compute the variation for your area as practice. On some charts you will find more than one compass rose. In this case you use the variation for the compass rose nearest you.

      Fig. 2-1 Compass Rose

      Deviation

      The second type of compass error to contend with is deviation. Deviation is caused by the pull of the metal in your vessel upon the compass. If you buy your instrument at any good marine center, they can usually have your compass compensated so that there is as little deviation as possible, but it is impossible to remove all of the deviation.

      Once the compass is compensated, you must swing ship and make up a table of deviation for every 15°. Whenever you set a course, you use the nearest deviation listed. For instance, on course 020° you use the deviation for 015°, and on course 055° you use the deviation for 060°. A typical deviation table will look like Fig. 2-2.

      Fig. 2-2 A Typical Deviation Table

      Now that you understand the difference between variation and deviation, we can begin to compute a true bearing. Let us say that you want to sail from one point to another and from the chart you find that the true course to steer is 273°. The question you must solve is: What are your variation and deviation errors and what course should you sail by your compass?

      There is a set formula to be followed and it can be remembered very easily by using the silly jingle, Can Dead Men Vote Twice? The jingle means nothing, but since it is so odd it is never forgotten and the first letter of each word provides the key you are looking for. They stand for: Compass course, Deviation, Magnetic course, Variation, and True course.

      One other rule you must remember is: When going from compass course toward true course, add easterly errors. When going from true course to compass, add westerly.

      Going back to our original problem, it works out this way:

      In the preceding illustration we assume that you determined your variation from the compass rose on your chart and the deviation on your deviation table. You started out with your true course of 273° (from your chart), and, since you are heading from true to compass, added your westerly variation of 5°. This gave you a magnetic course of 278°. This figure is the bearing of the magnetic North Pole, not the true North Pole.

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