THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY
 

WILL NEVER TAKE MY BOYS OUT AT NIGHT.
I AGREE 100% WITH YOUR REPLY AND APPRECIATE YOUR CONCERN AND THAT IS WHY I AM LOKING FOR EVERYONES INPUT.
I HAVE LEARNED EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE
TALKING ABOUT AS FAR AS LAND MASSES AND OBSTRUCTIONS THAT ARE NOT PRESENTED ON MY GPS ETC. I KNOW I HAVE LITTLE NAVIGATIONAL SKILLS AND I AM BEING AS CAUTIOUS AS I CAN BE REALIZING I CAN DO MORE HARM THEN ENJOYMENT BY DOING OTHERWISE AND SO FAR THE CAUTIOUS APPROACH HAS MADE IT AND ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE,THATS NOT TO SAY THAT I WON'T SCREW UP AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER(HOPE I DIDN
'T JUST JINKS MYSELF) NEVER THE LESS I HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE.AND MOSTLY THAT HAS BEEN BY LISTENING TO SEASONED BOATERS AND PEOPLE ON THIS SIGHT. LET ME ASK YOU, IF I HAD A SUCCESSFUL EPISODE DURING THE DAY AND SAVED THAT TRACK ON MY GPS FOR A NIGHT EXCURSION NOT FORGETTING THAT THE TIDE DIFFERENCE COULD BE A FACTOR, IS IT A SAFE BET THAT I COULD LIMIT THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY PROBLEMS THAT COULD OCCUR AND THIS RIGHT APPROACH.
THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR CONCERN

KEN

Its always been my opinion that the safest navigators learn to dead reckon and then get electronics to make life easy. Its nice to hit a GPS button and be worry free. You can follow the dots on the plotter like the kids who dropped crumbs to find their way home in the forest. Problem is that if something goes wrong (like the birds who ate the crumbs...or a dead battery) you are lost.

Learn to run from buoy to buoy and learn to continuously update your position with beam sitings on land or triangulated positions with a compass and charts.Its sounds hard but its not and the Power Squadron offers free courses to show people how.

Last piece of advice is that the most important piece of information you must have to find your way home is to know where you are at all times. If you can keep track of where you are , you can find your way home.

When I learned 19 seasons ago , I had to learn to navigate with a compass , charts , watch , and knotmeter and tide and current tables. I then was able to have the "luxury" of a radio direction finder. Then it was a loran and now a GPS. In all honesty , I was never safer than when I had to keep track of my position and plot a course the hard way.

Anyway , I guess what I'm saying is learn the basics of navigation then use the electronics to make life simple. Don't risk everything on 4 AA size batteries.