GPS was a game changer once I actually trusted it

I ran a dredge on the Mississippi for 15 years using paper charts and dead reckoning. When the company put a GPS unit in the cab back in '09 I thought it was just another thing to break. After it saved my bacon during a foggy shift near Baton Rouge where I couldn't see 10 feet past the bow I never went back. Any of you older guys still run without electronics?

2 comments

2 Comments

veraramirez17d ago

GPS was the best thing to hit commercial boats since the depth sounder. I get the old school pride thing, I really do. But there's a difference between knowing how to read a chart and stubbornly refusing to use a tool that makes your job safer and easier. Dead reckoning works great until you hit a fog bank or a sudden current shift. I'll take a solid GPS signal over "i think we're about here" any day of the week.

kevin_murray8817d ago

Used to be one of those guys who'd brag about navigating by the stars and the feel of the tide. Then I got caught in a pea-soup fog off the coast of Maine three years ago, couldn't see the bow of my own boat. Spent two hours doing circles before I finally flipped on the backup GPS, felt like an idiot. GPS doesn't take away from knowing your chart, it just means you don't have to guess when things go sideways. Made me realize safety isn't about pride, it's about getting home.