Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
There is one vital thing that's been overlooked so far - skill.
Particularly in western countries, the skill to effectively pilot a sail driven boat has becoming increasingly rare. Most recreational "sailors" tend to use engines more than wind power.
Added to that, without high tech navigational aids such as GPS, many of these people will be restricted to "sailing" within sight of land.
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I remembered that someone was adressing the problem of high tech navigational aids.
However, if the point is fair when it comes to recreational sailors, it becomes a non sense when talking of military commanders and officers sailing the high seas.
If you travel to the Indian ocean, most captain now how to use a tool name "Kamal" and designed for navigational aid. However, this is a limited tool and you can count that these captains from the Indian Ocean would not be able to run a boat outside of this ocean.
When, you talk about navy officers (civilian and military) they are still taught how to use a sextant. At least that is valid for the French Naval Academy but I'm convinced that this is equally valid for most western navies. Their knowledge might be a bit rusty but i'm convinced it will come back fast (navy officers are also the only one still largely knowing Morse code). After all the old sextant remain the only way to find out what your location is when your computer is failing you (computers running under microsoft they must be failing all the time. Minor failure for most of the time of course.
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