The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Have you been LOST? (In the woods-lost in city doesn't count)

RevGeo · September 9, 2012, 09:35 AM

Lost on the ocean once, kinda confused in the woods a time or two.
The ocean incident was when I was a commercial salmon fisherman in Oregon. Had a 20' open dory. Back in the 80s there was no GPS, just radar and LORAN. I had no radar and one foggy day with about 50 yard visibility my LORAN decided to just quit. I knew how far off shore I was from my depth sounder, but had no idea how far north I had trolled from my home port. I headed south for a while but was worried about running out of gas so I shut down the engine and waited to hear another boat come by. Then I heard the home port whistle bouy and knew where I was. Kinda scary. More than kinda lucky. After that I spent a whole lot of time learning about navigating in the fog - mainly by over-navigating in clear weather. The same principle applies on dry land. Practice, practice, practice...Be careful out there, ya'll.

September 9, 2012, 09:35 AM	#59
RevGeo Senior Member Join Date: September 18, 2011 Location: North Idaho Posts: 161	Lost on the ocean once, kinda confused in the woods a time or two. The ocean incident was when I was a commercial salmon fisherman in Oregon. Had a 20' open dory. Back in the 80s there was no GPS, just radar and LORAN. I had no radar and one foggy day with about 50 yard visibility my LORAN decided to just quit. I knew how far off shore I was from my depth sounder, but had no idea how far north I had trolled from my home port. I headed south for a while but was worried about running out of gas so I shut down the engine and waited to hear another boat come by. Then I heard the home port whistle bouy and knew where I was. Kinda scary. More than kinda lucky. After that I spent a whole lot of time learning about navigating in the fog - mainly by over-navigating in clear weather. The same principle applies on dry land. Practice, practice, practice...Be careful out there, ya'll.