IF you've ever negotiated pea-soup fogwhile boating, thenyou're familiar with the interior of the proverbial pingpong ball. Orientation becomes confusing, and it's easy to convince yourself that you're heading north when your bearing is actually 180 degrees. This, of course, is the time when compasses shine.But what if you're cruising to the high latitudes, where your magnetic compass is no longer accurate? What if an absentminded crewmember put a toolbox full of ferrous metal in the wrong spot? Given that magnetic compasses are typically accurate to plus or minus 2 degrees, cross-track error can amount to a measurable fuel-dock bill over the course of a lengthy passage.Fortunately, today's satellite compasses can help, while bolstering the performance of other networked electronics.
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