Autopilots on the other hand, unless integrated to your wind instruments, will force you to sail a direct course but autopilots are idiots and, since most folks using them simply dial in a compass course, you’re not going to be in sync with the wind…Not so long ago I realized that my chart plotter had a problematic effect on my sailing ability. Seeing my current course as a graphical interface, while being neat and all, had a real tendency to distract me from the course I should be steering in favor of the subliminal desire to make for a straight line on the chart plotter. Put the cover on the chart plotter and, hey presto, all of a sudden I’m going faster towards where I want to go. Take the cover off the chart plotter and I’m losing a knot or more… Kinda like Kryptonite for boat speed…
Which, I suppose, is why so many folks sailing from St Thomas to St Martin simply wind up motoring on a straight line course into the wind and swell as they’re addicted to those nice straight lines on the chart plotter.
Boat Bits: About steering…. David Ryan sent me this link after reading my recent quote of Nick Carr on “the tyranny of the screen.”