Dear readers,

Three reports from the field of navigation electronics recently made local sailors sit up and take notice: Firstly, my colleague Hauke Schmidt explained why some areas of the Baltic Sea are currently experiencing repeated Interference or even failure of the GPS signals will come - keyword Ukraine war - and what impact this will have. Our test and technology team also presented two innovations that should make manoeuvring in port much easier: a Camera-based system from Raymarine and a AI-supported from Navico.

The comments were not long in coming; as expected, they were contradictory. Sailors expressed their concerns about navigational safety on the Baltic Sea. In particular, the question of how to recognise whether or not a GPS signal can still be trusted in the future was on the minds of many contemporaries.

The responses to this were still comparatively reserved. You could just go back to the good old navigation tools and link your course and position - ever heard of good seamanship!

The views on the two more or less autonomous manoeuvring aids were much more ambitious - to put it mildly. Some welcomed the opportunities offered by the new achievements: getting to the jetty in a completely relaxed manner in future, without shouting on deck, without worrying about hitting yourself or your neighbour's boat, wonderful! After all, sailing could be so much fun, if only it weren't for all those miserable mooring and casting off manoeuvres!

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Others had no sympathy for such views. You could steer your own boat from the comfort of your own living room using a joystick. Then you wouldn't even get wet or have to freeze. Those who are afraid of Port manoeuvres should learn to sail - full stop!

Apart from the fact that I am always somewhat surprised by such uncompromising and vehemently expressed points of view, the discussions remind me of days gone by. How sceptical we all were, or rather many of the older ones among us, when the first GPS receivers arrived on board more than three decades ago. After all, Decca and Loran-C (sorry if these are no longer terms for the younger generation; just google it) seemed scary, complicated to use and associated with a certain degree of uncertainty. And suddenly compasses, mooring triangles and nautical charts were more or less obsolete because a signal fell from the sky? At best, they were still good for entering the position read by the device on the chart. Later, when the first chart plotters appeared, even that became superfluous.

The discussions about the then new, no, revolutionary technology, fought out at the bar of the nearest sailing pub, were at least as fierce and sometimes bitter as the arguments in the comment columns on Facebook or in various sailing forums today.

What does that teach us?

As far as our discussion culture is concerned, we obviously can't get out of our skins. Listening and weighing up the arguments of the other side and initially comparing them favourably with our own opinion instead of rejecting them from the outset was and is not our strength. Whether at the counter or at the keyboard.

On the question of the frequently observed rejection of technical innovations (Internet? Will never catch on! E-mail? Can never surpass the fax! Electric cars? Will never overtake the combustion engine!) Even among sailors, the sceptics are usually louder - which does not mean that they are in the majority - than the number of those who are more open to new things - which in turn does not mean that they are naive.

I wouldn't like too much faith in technology either. The same goes for too much dependence on one system. Redundancy has always been a tried and tested method among sailors. In concrete terms, this means that if the GPS fails, I can fall back on my compass and paper map. Even if I can't reach my next destination without making one or two course corrections. If I want to enter the pit in the harbour but the technology is on strike, I know how to help myself in other ways. Even if it might not look as elegant as with the support of bow thrusters or, in future, even cameras and artificial intelligence.

So my motto would be: don't stubbornly insist on the status quo or even go back to your roots. But do reflect on them from time to time. This opens up new perspectives in sailing without having to throw old virtues overboard.

I for one am curious to see how we will be sailing in ten or twenty years' time. Which technologies will support us, make life on board easier, make a trip safer. Nevertheless, the compass, mooring triangle and paper chart will retain their rightful place.

Pascal Schürmann,

YACHT copywriter

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