I went sailing tonight at the Rønbjerg Sejlklub with two older gentlemen, Bent, and Ingolf. They were fun, Danish, and a little drunk at the beginning of the race. This did not however affect their performance much, and after getting across the line in a timely fashion, we proceeded to make our way up to the first mark at the head of the pack.
But as we reached the mark, something happened. Although we could see the mark approaching the lay-line (for those of you non-believers, a lay-line refers to the point at which a boat can tack ((change directions going up-wind)) and make the mark.) the two gents became fixated on using their newly purchased instruments to figure out at which point they could tack. By the time they figured it out, the optimal time to tack was long gone.
These men were convinced that their new GPS combo thingy was helping them be better sailors...and maybe in some cases it would...but maybe we also need to remember that sometimes looking outside the boat with our eyes is the best technology one can possess.
-J
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