Learning

I guess one thing that I like about sailing in general is that there are always things to learn. With changing conditions there is always the possibility of improving your performance (especially for me, since I'm not all that practiced anyway). In addition, there are so many other things to learn: navigation, weather, maneuvering, etc. Finally, there's the fact that it can take you different places that maybe you haven't been or, if you have, you may have not seen them in the same conditions.

Navigation used to be a lot more complicated. Nowadays, we have GPS systems that can place you within a few feet of your position. You still need to correlate that with a position on a chart, but if you are willing to shell out the bucks (which are less all the time), then you can get the charts built into the GPS system or computer connected to it. Some people say that we should all learn the old means of navigation, which for coastal purposes includes taking compass bearings, doing dead reckoning tracks, and so on. For offshore it would be celestial navigation with a sextant and various ways of reducing sights and placing them on a chart.

I'm not so sure. For the cost of a reasonably good sextant, you can get a couple of backup handheld GPS units and plenty of batteries. You can learn to use them at least as quickly as you learn the traditional means. So maybe the only really good reason to learn the old ways is that they are fun and interesting, not that they are really necessary.