This is one of the subjects that Yachtmaster Instructors and Examiners talked about when they met at the RYA annual conference this year.  I think the answer is ‘yes’, and that it matters.  But to others we must sound like a group of diehard killjoys bemoaning the passing of the old days.  Newcomers to cruising and yachting cannot be blamed for rejoicing in incredible technologies, like GPS (Global Positioning System), which blow away the smoke and mirrors of sextant and spherical trigonometry to provide us all with accurate positions anytime, anywhere on land or sea.
 
And yet I wonder what percentage of Yachtmasters who have passed the MCA/RYA practical exam in the last year, know how to do an eye splice or whip the end of a rope.  I would hazard a guess that less than fifty per cent have acquired these basic skills.  Why? Because these two basic skills aren’t even in the syllabus for the practical Yachtmaster exam. Why aren’t they in the syllabus? Because about thirty years ago when the Yachtmaster scheme was first started any amateur sailor would have learnt these skills long before presuming that he or she might be proficient enough to take the Yachtmaster exam.
 
“So what is the problem?” you might ask, “Just add splicing and whipping back into the practical syllabus”.  But it is not quite as simple as this.
 
In recent years I have met a number of yacht owners who were unable to tie a bowline or a rolling hitch, two knots that are essential for a yachtsman or woman to be effective on their own or anyone else’s boat. Yet these same people will know well how to enter a waypoint into their GPS or chart plotter. This is simply a reflection on the priorities of the latest generation of people becoming sailors.
 
Thus my recent experience is that many people who now take up sailing are far more interested in the electronic gadgetry around the chart table than in the sail wardrobe, the ballast ratio or how well the vessel performs on the wind. Out at sea - rather than staying on deck to sail the boat, watch the sail shape and adjust the traveller position and halyard and outhaul tensions - the same people linger at the navigation station with their eyes glued to the GPS screen wanting to know exactly where they are at all times,  Thus the slightest cross-track error demands a change in course, whereas the reality is that ninety-nine per cent of the time it honestly doesn’t matter exactly where we are, there is a lot of very safe water out there, all that really does matter is where we are not!  
 
This fills me with sadness.  My advice to these people is to stop messing about pressing buttons, gawping at screens, and making minor alterations to the autopilot.  Get up on deck, sail the boat properly and enjoy the sailing.  Yes, ‘do a fix’ every hour or, if you are on a long passage, every four hours. Sometimes, when my crew haven’t had a reason to wake me up for the entire night, it will have been eight hours without my doing another fix. Yet, even if the GPS should have gone wrong in that period, I can soon estimate our approximate position by dead reckoning and an estimated position. Certainly, when approaching the coast and about 15 miles from our destination it is important to determine our accurate position either from the GPS or by using a hand-bearing compass and then to work out what course to steer.
 
I was lucky enough to have learnt to navigate before either GPS or Decca were available. As a result I am happy to sail without the help of this technology.  Of course GPS has taken the stress out of navigation, but it has also taken away the sense of achievement on making a successful landfall after a long passage.
 
This is not just a problem for cruisers and yachtsmen.  Airline pilots have similar concerns.  Their job has (almost) reduced to that of data input clerks - the problems occur when they start to feel uncomfortable with the information their computers are giving them.  Which do they believe - their instruments or their instincts? That is, of course, why they are required to maintain their flying skills with so many unassisted landings per year
 
Isn’t it time, therefore, that we took similar interest in traditional navigation so that we become less dependent on the American government’s GPS network, our boat’s power supply or maybe just a fuse that we haven’t got a replacement for on board?  Even worse many boats have had all their electrical systems rendered completely useless by lightning strikes, for this to happen you don’t have to receive a direct hit by lightning! 
 
I am not suggesting that we should all start navigating by sextant, but I do think that people should be less reliant on their GPS chart plotter and have all the relevant paper charts on board. If we then use traditional navigation techniques on a regular basis it will not be so difficult for us to navigate in the event of GPS failure.
 
Similarly many people work out tidal heights for secondary ports with a hand held computer,laptop or chartplotter, this is a wonderfully quick way of doing what can be a rather tedious calculation. However a problem with our laptop or palm top could leave us with having to calculate secondary port tides from the almanac having not done it for ten years or more.  Faced with having to do this having not done the calculations for years when just a few miles from a shallow harbour entrance could be a stressful experience with the danger of getting it wrong, which could result in serious damage and possible loss of life.  A few weeks ago the owner of a beautiful Halberg Rassy got his tidal calculations wrong when entering a Scottish harbour, went aground and was swept on to rocks where his vessel was so badly damaged it became a total write off. Fortunately he and his crew were rescued by the RNLI.

This is why, when I go on board someone’s boat, I know I am going to be much more impressed by an owner’s seamanship if I see a paper chart on the chart table, an almanac in the book case and rope ends nicely whipped and with fender ropes neatly spliced. A forest of aerials advertising the wide selection of electronic toys on board does not impress me in the least bit.