Compasses

Jimmy Green Marine offer a range of marine compasses from top brands in their field: Plastimo, Velocitek and Novasail.

The product portfolio targets two specific areas where a compass can be of great benefit afloat:

• Hand-bearing reading for sailing yachts/motor boats
• Tactical guidance for dinghy and sportboat yacht racing

Hand-Bearing Compass

The Hand-bearing Compass is a very useful, some would say, essential multi-purpose addition to your navigational and safety armoury.

Multi-purpose Advantages:

• Avoiding Collision - determine whether a ship crossing your intended track is on collision course
• Fixing your Position - use multiple bearing readings to fixed land or seamarks which you can identify and plot on a chart to establish a position where the bearing lines intersect - one bearing and a depth sounding may even be sufficient to make an educated estimate of your location.
• Distance Off - use your hand-bearing compass as a range finder by taking bearings at timed intervals - collate the bearings with geometry or time and speed to give you an estimate of your distance from a fixed object e.g. lighthouse
• Testing Deviation on your Steering compass

Essential or Beneficial features to look for:

• Sufficient damping for accurate reading
• Lightweight - for holding steady while taking bearings
• Durable - for all those unintentional drops and bashes
• Grippy - non-slip for cold or wet hands
• Integral Lighting - for night time passage making
• Gimballed Card - for easy reading in a choppy sea

Dinghy and Sportboat Yacht Racing Compass

A tactical compass can enhance your competitive edge by identifying wind shifts when there are no easy land or sea marks to help you recognise them. An electronic tactical compass can add speed as well as direction to help you optimise your VMG (vector made good). Also included in this category, but not actually a tactical compass is the Prostart GPS which plots the start line and combines accurate distance and time to the start.

Essential or Beneficial features to look for:

• Clear markings for lift and header feedback
• Clear readable screen in shade and sunlight
• Wide viewing angle
• Multiple options for fixing

Jimmy Green also offer a specific safety compass for kayak and canoe navigation.

Related article: How to use a Marine Compass