The use of high-tech gadgets diminishes our sailing skills?

I am new to this forum, so I decided to start my first thread with small discussion>

Today everyone has got more technologies in one smartphone than an entire scientific laboratory back in the 80's.
Modern gadgets are designed to make our life easier and of course to make $ for high tech product manufacturers.
So there is a tone of gadgets designed for sailing and fishing like: GPS maps, scanners, sensors, trackers, fishfinders etc.

Do you think the use of high-tech gadgets diminishes our sailing / fishing skills?

Boating and Marine Accessories | Navigation, Safety, Fishing Gear, Tops

In a word, yes.

But only if you allow yourself to become dependent on constantly looking at the electronic gadget and you miss the obvious stuff going on around you on the race course.

The electronic gadgets can be a tool used to help you, or a distraction from the outside world, your choice. The more time you spend with your head down, the less you are going to see of what's going on around you, up the race course.

Flying jet airliners went through the same problems when the 757/767 and early Airbus aircraft were introduced, and the pilots had to learn how to push buttons to fly the airplane, as opposed to doing it manually. There have been many, many, many accidents caused by 'Automation Dependent' pilots who lost their situational awareness as they were distracted by trying to run the computers, rather than just turning off the autopilot and hand flying the jet. Now, obviously, going heads down on a sailboat at 8-15 knots is not going to kill you like it will on a 757 at 300 knots, but the distractions are caused by the same thing.

The most recent accident was the Asiana 777 that crashed in San Francisco a couple years ago, on a clear, sunny day. The two pilots spent too much time with their heads down trying to program the computer and let the airplane get too low and slow, ran it right into the breakwater at the end of the runway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVaQYhd_Qy0

The electronic gadgets can be a great help, no doubt, but you have to know when to look up to see what else is going on around you.

Here's a great training video put out by American Airlines years ago, after one of their crews ran a perfectly good 757 into a mountain in Cali, Columbia. It is called, "Children of the Magenta". Magenta is the color of the computer generated course line that we fly to our destination. The problem they had in Cali was, they mis-programmed their Flight Management System to the wrong fix and the airplane dutifully followed the Magenta line right into the mountain top, killing everyone. Both pilots went 'head's down' trying to get the FMS computer sorted out, nobody looked up to see what the airplane was doing, until it was too late.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN41LvuSz10

Now obviously we don't have autopilots on our little racing catamarans, so we 'hand fly' every race, but if you spend all your time looking down at your TacTic or your computer screen, you are going to miss a lot of stuff going on up the course.

Sum-sing-wong

Here's the actual news report!

Talk about letting technology ruin your mind!

What the hell was she thinking!

Oh, that's right, she WASN'T thinking!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1JYHNX8pdo

What do you mean? He clearly has a keen interest in fishing, he even said so...

Mike

I think from a navigational standpoint that technology has definitely had an impact. I started distance racing just a little while after practical GPS use on a catamaran became practical. I can't imagine how those guys ever found finish lines on the beach without it.

Other than that, though, I really don't think it's had much impact for small boat sailing anyway. I've been through a pretty decent number of sailing gadgets and devices and I've really settled in on two pieces of data that are important to me and that's speed and heading. Both of these have been readily available through a dumb 'ol compass and paddle wheel (or other) speed sensor since long before GPS. Having a speed display (although it is GPS derived) on my J22 has really helped me transition quickly to the different types of trimming techniques that boat demands and it serves as a reminder when I switch from multihull to monohull to get my gust response correct (it's quite a different feel). As many do, I watch heading to get a better sense for what the wind is doing over the course of the day and I don't use it much for the micro decisions like I used to.

So, in summary, navigationally, technology has had a large impact. However, on the smaller scale of close course racing I really don't think it has.

Before GPS? Um, charts and landmarks? Obviously, easier here where there's an abundance of unique features. Miles of straight beaches and hotels can be very difficult to distinguish for sure. Always a challenge at new locations (NAs, etc.).

For mark boat work, I use everything: GPS, depth sounder, anemometer, laser range finder, binoculars, and a good hockey puck compass. Always prefer to sanity check with a string or flag (telltale).

For sailing, I have a Ronstan Clear Start watch, which is nice on the Wave, but I prefer my Timex Ironman wristwatch most times. I don't use a compass, but have considered adding a Tacktick. That's about the extent of what's allowed for Hobie class racing.

Will never leave the beach (on any boat) without a VHF for safety, of course. Made that mistake early on in my career (third time out on a Hobie, first time singlehanded), spent the night turtled, cold and alone. Have seen too many close calls at regattas, never let safety in numbers fool you, stuff happens fast, and the other boats aren't always as close as you think, and the RC isn't able to see everything.

Mike