From my past I will cite 3 items that I find useful any time this comes up.

Before I start, if you are day sailing ONLY, fine, skip it as it's most likely not needed.

No 1. As we were heading south, miles off the Baja in the pacific, I was on the mid watch, Jill was sleeping. I was using our Standard Horizon chart plotter and had steering (can't remember why????). This same question was on the board months before we departed so I thought I would do a test. The weather was OK, not bad, but far from calm. It was a moonless night and the sea was running from our aft stbd quarter. So...I shut off the light on the compass. I then tried to hold my course using the different modes of the plotter, like the chart mode (course up), the “Navigation mode”, and the “Highway mode”.

I realized in short order how valuable our compass was!!! With the chart plotter I was always trying to react to was had already taken place! The refresh rate was just NOT fast enough to give me a heads up on what was going on. I was steering in the past. Like in the aircraft lingo, you always want to be ahead of the craft, not following it. With the plotter I did not get the feedback that the compass provides when you see that card swing, as in how fast and the return on the card. I was just not getting the sensory input I wanted.

During a summer in the Sea of Cortez, we know of two boats that had to weather a sudden Chubasco (BIG sudden wind).

No 2. In the first case, the couple woke up just fine, knew they had to get underway, They were upping anchor FAST. Once the anchor was up, the plotter had not yet come up and it was dark, they guessed at the proper direction, hit a rock and sunk! The craft was later raised by a lot of help of others, but you get the idea.

No 3. The second boat was very good friends of ours. We anchored on the south side of a spit of land, they in a small bay on the north side. Not visible to each other but less than a mile apart. Once again, a Caubasco, they upped anchor fast and once more, the plotter was not up! It it was not for a small hand compass, they would have also come to greaf. They told us they came within 15 foot of the rocks!!

After those 2 incidents, Jill and I now place a small document protector (with blue tape) on the cockpit forward bulkhead, just under the compass. After we anchor and are set, I use the hand bearing compass to get a mag reading of the exit course. Should the need arise, we can drop the anchor road and be underway, in the proper direction, as fast as we can start the engine! We also have a hand bearing compass over our birth and I can tell you, we sleep well!

Greg