Anyone particulary good with navigation?

Post by **Sylvus** » May 25, 2006, 1:33 pm

Warning: This is a long, rambling post that is only here to fuel my speculations about the show Lost. Please feel free to ignore it entirely.

Is anyone particularly familiar with navigating using a compass? I'm less interested in N, S, E, W; my question is more about the numbers (bearing?). I've used a compass on the water in conjunction with nautical charts where I can line up a number on the compass with a number on the map and end up where I want to go, but I'm having trouble picturing it while sitting at my desk, and I'm apparently using the wrong google search terms to find useful information.

This question is specifically in reference to something on Lost last night, and as it may be a spoiler, I'll hide it below.

[hide=Click here if you already saw Lost or do not care about being spoiled]While I can't say with certainty that I should be using reality as a frame of reference to the show, several signs point to the island that the people are on being near one of the poles (I'm leaning toward the south pole). The main thing that influences my belief is that a guy got into a sailboat and travelled west for like two and a half weeks and ended up back at the same island. Assuming he was, in fact, travelling west, I'm guessing that he'd have to be on a line of longitude where there were no other land masses and that it would be feasible to circumnavigate the globe in a couple weeks. In my mind that points toward being near a pole. Also, if you haven't seen the show, the plane was leaving Australia and heading for Los Angeles before going off course for a couple hours and eventually crashing, so I would think that we can reasonably assume that they are somewhere north of Antarctica in the South Pacific.

Anyway, last night someone was instructed to get on a boat and follow bearing 325 and that he would run into people who would rescue him. Assuming the above is all that you know about your starting point, does that bearing tell you anything about where you might end up, or are there too many variables?[/hide]

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » May 25, 2006, 1:41 pm

Back when I was in Boy Scouts, I was pretty good with a compass. Unfortunately, I haven't used one in over 15yrs. So, at this point, if I were to be stranded in the wilderness with only a compass, I would probably be better off trying to bludgen something to death with it as oppossed to using it for it's intended purpose.

Who knows, maybe it would all come back to me if I were placed in that situation.

cadalano · Post by **cadalano** » May 25, 2006, 1:49 pm

afaik bearing is the clockwise angle from your reference point. i think that bearing would be northwest, then

Aneron · Post by **Aneron** » May 25, 2006, 1:58 pm

Even after 10 years in the Navy...I"m no expert on the subject, as it wasn't my job. But using this website: http://www.auxetrain.org/plotting2.htm I agree with Cadalano.

cadalano · Post by **cadalano** » May 25, 2006, 2:01 pm

i also found some shit online that antarctica is the only, or one of very few places, that you can circle the globe without striking land. eeeenteresting

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » May 25, 2006, 2:03 pm

[hide]was it 325 or 352? It would basically be just above NW. Wasn't there mention at one point of them being somewhere east of Fiji? I don't see it being at the south pole anymore after the EMP issue (not to mention the apparent temperatures/sea behavior). I am guessing that whatever is going on screws with the magnetics in that area. The sailboat going West and ending up in the same place? How was he navigating below decks while drowning in liquor? They answered several questions, but they left more behind. For instance, I never realized that an EMP alone would cause an explosion on a passing aircraft...[/hide]

Morgrym · Post by **Morgrym** » May 25, 2006, 5:50 pm

Depends on if you are looking for True North (Gyro Compass) or Magnetic North (Standard Compass) It's variable depending on your lat / long as to what Magnetic North is going to be.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » May 25, 2006, 6:04 pm

Morgrym wrote:Depends on if you are looking for True North (Gyro Compass) or Magnetic North (Standard Compass) It's variable depending on your lat / long as to what Magnetic North is going to be.

Which would typically be used at sea though?

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » May 25, 2006, 7:10 pm

360/0 = north, 270 = W, 180 due S, 90 = E

Circumnavigating in the 40 degrees south latitudes is a quick trip but often ends in death...Those waters are very bad...all the time and prone to hellish storms...Hence "The Roaring 40's"...

Haven't seen the show but Tasmania or NZ South Island might be good guess if they actually circumnavigated....Maybe they are just crappy sailors...

Could also be the Falklands (Malvinas)...

Morgrym · Post by **Morgrym** » May 25, 2006, 7:16 pm

Boogahz wrote:
Morgrym wrote:Depends on if you are looking for True North (Gyro Compass) or Magnetic North (Standard Compass) It's variable depending on your lat / long as to what Magnetic North is going to be.
Which would typically be used at sea though?

True North is the one used to navigate by via gyroscope. However, a Magnetic compass is also maintained incase electronics go out in ye ole binnical. Near land, location is verified via radar and diferential back up. Out to sea, typically LORAN is used to determine location.

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » May 26, 2006, 9:27 am

[hide]It wouldn't cause an explosion alone but it would rip an aircraft apart I would believe. That would cause an explosion.[/hide]

masteen · Post by **masteen** » May 26, 2006, 6:01 pm

Give me a map and a stopwatch and I'll fly a plane with no windows through the Alps.

noel · Post by **noel** » May 26, 2006, 6:58 pm

masteen wrote:Give me a map, a stopwatch and some K-Y and I'll fly a plane with no windows through the Alps.

Fixed.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » May 26, 2006, 8:04 pm

Don't fuck up a quote from a great movie like that!

Fyndina · Post by **Fyndina** » May 27, 2006, 1:13 am

Navigate by true North, navigational maps will have correction numbers on them between magnetic values and true values.