All I know Moose, from the visits I do on the coast is that the majority of
the lighthouses has been shutdown the last 10 years. At least here in
Sweden.
/ Johan
Den 05-12-21 01.40, skrev "Moose" <olymoose@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> Johan Malmstrom wrote:
>
>> Lighthouses only purpose seems to be be photogenic. No need for the light as
>> GPS has become ubiquitous.
>>
>>
> It would appear that you have never spent any time navigating at sea,
> particularly in coastal waters in poor weather.
>
> The key to safety is redundancy. A GPS unit can fail to operate, or
> worse, give wrong results. Sure, it it the major tool, but any time one
> is in costal waters with hidden obstacles, poor weather, etc., visual
> fix location and radar ranging location are essential for safety. Also,
> in harbors and harbor approaches, esp. at night, things can become quite
> visually confusing. Lights and markers set up sight lines to keep one on
> the correct heading directly, without reference to chart, GPS, etc. this
> can be very important in busy, complex areas and in dark places.
>
> Just knowing that keeping two lights ligned up as I steer will keep me
> in the channel and that there are another pair at the turning makes safe
> navigation easier.
>
> US light houses have been automated, but still are all maintained. And
> they still use aural fog signals. I was just listening to one a few
> weeks ago in Maine. Did I mention that it was foggy in mid afternoon?
> <http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/MPhotos/OwlsHead/>
>
> Back when LORAN gave pretty good positions at sea, the navigator still
> took at least two sightings a day with sextant. There is still something
> about the sea and its weather that will sometimes defeat almost any
> means of determining position on rare occasions. So the wise navigator
> always uses as many as are available.
>
> Moose
>
>
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