If you are flying this courtesy flag, what country are you in?
Send your answer to cruisingcompass@bwsailing.com. The winner, selected randomly from correct answers, will receive a Blue Water Sailing hat.
Thanks to the Weems and Plath Mindbender winner, Gordon Couture, for his answer to the question: You are the navigator and before coming on deck for your watch, want to plot an updated fix and true course on the chart. After plotting your fix, you ask the on watch crew what compass course they are steering and they reply 215 degrees. With a variation of 17 degrees east and a deviation of 3 degrees west, what true course do you plot?
Gordon’s Answer: True +/- Var = Magnetic +/- Dev = Compass (add west, subtract east) OR Compass +/- Dev = Magnetic +/- Var = True (subtract west, add east)
Therefore, in your example, a compass reading of 215, with variation 17 east and deviation 3 west results in a true course of 229 TRUE (215-3+17).
