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Mr. S:
I partly agree and partly disagree with you. As a pilot who has lost all electrical power twice over the last 25 years, I swear by a mag compass in an airplane because when all else sh**s-the-bed, that little mag compass defines your entire world and will save your bacon!!!
In a boat, in the soup, at SW Ledge, with an electrical failure (a far more likely event in a boat than in an airplae, BTW), how are you going to know where to point the bow, other than by knowing your wave/swell angle of attack, to get back to Pt. Judith or wherever?
Where I partly agree with you is that the mag compass is a pain to keep dialed-in, especially in a small boat, and especially when we don't use it often what with GPS and all our other neat toys. I check mine virtually every trip and tweak it relative to the GPS whenever it's over a couple of degrees off (there's as much variation in GPS headings as in the mag compass headings, BTW). I have one of those little plastic retractable hobby knife things with the break-off blades in which I replaced the break-off blade with a copper compass screwdriver that came with my compass. I keep it on a 1/8" bungee cord attached to the compass so it's readily at hand when I have to tweak the compass.
Now, is my compass in the boat dialed-in exactly? Never happen! But it's within a few degrees of mag headings and thus it will get me home, or at least to shore close to home--not an altogether comforting thing given that "home" is sorrounded by the rock wall at the Harbor of Refuge!! But that's why throttles on outboards can actually go to "slow."
I think the big advantage of a mag compass is in its use a relative bearing indicator, much more than in pointing out a course to follow. But right up till the moment your electrical system craps out (an event that in itself will throw off the compass a great deal in many boats), boat drivers ought to be well aware of which mag heading, or at least range of headings, will get them to a safe spot.
Just my 2 cents worth.
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