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i, ROBOAT - the automatic sailor "Set it and forget it!" That's the slogan of one of the ubiquitous infomercials on TV at all hours of the day and night. This one is for a rotisserie, but it could apply to most modern appliances in the kitchen. Actually, almost everything electric can now be programed to run automatically. With the help of your computer, or using their own little brains, your whole house can turn itself on and off; lights, heat, TV, stereo, coffee machine. You can even feed the dog automatically. You never have to lift a finger, other than to press the proper sequence of buttons — proper sequence being the key. But these are, on the whole, just conveniences. Things that, if they fail or go wrong, are inconvenient at most. Consequences are irritating but, with a push of the reset button and again, pushing the all important proper sequence of buttons, all can be set right. I've embraced the new technologies because, in most cases, it's made my live easier and safer. But in doing so I find my basic skills slowly eroding. "Let Otto do it...according to the GPS...set the waypoints" are phrases that are now in most sailors lexicon. You can even have the boat tack itself, automatically lining up with the wind on the opposite tack. I've always liked sailing because of the involvement. It's not just driving a car on the water. To tack a boat at the touch of a button doesn't interest me. I enjoy plotting a course and finding a new place, chart in hand. Where going totally electronic becomes a safety issue is when you realize that new boaters won't know anything but the totally electronic stuff. They'll be whizzes at it, that's for sure, but what's the backup? Carrying multiple backup systems; GPS's and computers, like a nuclear sub. So why the rant? It bothers me to see boats turning into just another kitchen appliance. There is no doubt that advances in electronic navigation have made it easier for anyone to know exactly where they are and automatically take them where they want to go. But I'm afraid I'm one of those old fogies that believe that it's not if something electric on the boat will fail, but when, and that electronic navigational equipment should aid the sailor in his boating, not do it for him. There's much more to piloting a boat than just pushing the proper sequence of buttons — to just "set it and forget it." After all, you are your own ultimate backup. |
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