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A prudent navigator makes use of all available means
of determining the boats position. On ocean voyages we
use celestial navigation as well as GPS.
We had an interesting conversation with a couple of long
distance voyagers in Mindelo Cape Verde. They had two
GPS's on board when they were in the middle of the Pacific
Ocean. Both units failed within days of each other. Needless
to say there was no repair shop in the vicinity. They
did have a sextant stored away somewhere on the boat along
with an almanac and tables. They had become so reliant
on the GPs that they had not been practicing celestial
navigation for some years. They commented that, being
in the middle of the Pacific, they were not in danger
of running aground any time soon and therefore they had
plenty of time to rediscover the art of finding their
position from the sun and the stars.
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