Re: compass
strikers, there's are a couple of things that effect a compass. 1 is devation. which boatist is talking about. any eletcrical items, any metal, next to yer compass will effect it. (i mean even the zipper in yer pants might effect it if yer zipper is close enough to the compass, let alone a windshield wiper or something like that)the compass on yer boat may need to be adj. for that. i've never done it but there is what's called a devation table. devation will be different for different headings also. it's for your specific boat, your specific location of yer compass on board. the other thing that effects it is variation. this is different from one location to the next. it is the difference between magnetic north and true north. charts will have this varition printed on them, and charts are printed true north, yer boat is on a magnetic corse. on the east coast the varition will be west. if on the west coast, varition will be east. man, there's alot to be learned about a compass. yer compass may be alright as is. try compensateing for variation for where yer at. the chart i'm useing to learn this has 015* west varition. that means that when my compass reads 015*, i am really going true north. or 000*. you can also compare yer boats compass to a gps. be sure the gps is in the magnetic north mode. the gps will not account for varaition i don't believe. but is uneffected by deviation. as it get's it's info from satalites. this statement is to the best of my limited knowledge, and is over simplified. any of you real navagators out there feel free to correct me. i'm still learning too.
