I have to admit to one nerdish tendency. I am one of the laziest people in the world, hate doing "work" but at sea, you just can't afford to be lazy. I liked doing the weather though, and in the UK, on the West Coast within range of land getting the weather forecast wrong could be deadly. BUT some people enjoy doing crosswords, I am useless at anything involving spelling, I like drawing surface pressure maps and weather charts from weather station readings. It was a bit like a crossword puzzle I guess, it was a matter of joining up the isobars from the pressure readings, wind strengths and directions. With a bit of practice I found I could draw in the appropriate weather fronts, cold, warm, occluded, and could have a good idea what was happening next. To pass the RYA exam back in the day, you had to be proficient at it, as knowing where you were on the chart at the current time. It was of equal importance.
The internet and modern gizzmos are great. If they stop working though, you need practised working backup procedures. If I do much sailing over the oncoming years, I will ensure a lot of the time will be spent pretending the internet and the GPS isn't there. Same with the weather and weather reports. |
