To date, these “Bye Bye Birdie” columns have mostly focused on navigation, specifically in the absence of GPS. This is a bit more general, but addresses an issue that lies at the core of all passagemaking, and separates the serious boaters from the ordinary ones.
As recreational boaters (or even as professional mariners), we become very familiar and comfortable with our home waters. However, when we sojourn to distant places, we often find that everything we know to be true about navigation in one place is equally false in another. Such differences, if misunderstood, can have serious repercussions, and are not always readily apparent from a casual glance at our charts and other resources.
To illustrate this point, let’s look at an imaginary voyage from Charleston, South Carolina, to Astoria,…
