Compasses in seafaring
History of the compass
The Chinese navigators already knew the wet compass at the turn of the millennium and have been using a floating "Südweiser" since the 11th century. And indeed, unlike conventional needles, the Chinese compass does not point north, but south. In the course of time, this developed into special compass shapes with 24, 32, 48 or 64 dashes. The sailors of the eastern Mediterranean later optimized the wet compass. However, since he gave his owner great advantages over his competitors on the one hand and on the other hand functioned quasi with forbidden magical powers, this knowledge was kept as secret as possible.
Compasses in regatta sports
Nowadays, compasses are used for various purposes at regatta courses. As a reliable direction indicator, even on fluctuating ships, the position of the starting line to the wind can be determined by simple calculations, and thus the preferred start page can be found. In addition, race leaders indicate the direction to the windward buoy for larger courses and the degree by which the course has changed for course changes. But even the wind shifts that are so important for the perfect cross course can be selected with the help of simple wet compasses.
Modern compasses
On modern regatta ships today compasses are used, which do not point the direction with a magnetic needle for a long time any more. The modern compasses are digital in nature and show you exactly to the degree your deviation from the standard course. In addition, these multifunction compasses have integrated features such as a start countdown and you can even set two waypoints and the computer calculates to the meter exactly the distance you have to this line.