Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster Quiz · Electronic navigation
The tide has set you well off your planned track, and the GPS now offers a new bearing straight to the waypoint (the dashed line). What is wrong with simply following it?
A chart. A planned track is drawn in pencil from waypoint WP1 at the top left to waypoint WP2 at the lower right. A patch of rocks lies to one side of the track. A yacht marked you is well off the track, on the same side as the rocks, and a gold dashed line runs straight from her to WP2, passing through the rocks. A GPS readout shows XTE 0.8 M and BTW 092°T.
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Only the planned track was checked for dangers: the new line runs across the rocks. A GPS knows nothing about what lies between you and the waypoint. Your planned track was checked on the chart, but the straight line from wherever you have ended up was not. Either work back to the planned track or plot the new line on the chart and check it before you follow it.
