Will Oxley

Yeah, then you have a problem.

And

you do what's known as dead reckoning.

In the olden days, they used to throw something off the bow and time how long it took to get to the stern.

And using that time, they would calculate how fast they were moving.

And then, of course, you have a compass that will tell you the direction that you're heading in.

But of course, those measurements are where you are moving across the water.

But if the water's moving as well, if there's a strong current, for example,

And the current, like take the East Australian current, for example, it can sometimes move at a speed of four knots.

And if you're only doing six knots and you're going perpendicular to that current, which is going at four knots, then you're going to be a long way away from where you think you are at the end of that dead reckoning.

And so the longer you go without knowing exactly where you are, the

The more error is introduced.

Now, when GPS came along, initially the yacht racing said, oh, that'll be an unfair advantage.

And they prevented you from using them initially.

And so you still had to have this skill of celestial navigation.

But now the art has largely been lost.

And so I feel...

very competent as a modern day navigator.

But if I had to pick up the sexton again in anger, I would be back to an 18-year-old grappling with the thing, trying to remember just what I needed to do.

No.