Get lost

I can navigate like a pirate, you know.

Where in the world am I? There's only one correct answer, or, at least, one approximate answer, but the means to hand are varied. When I got a new plotter this spring with an internal GPS, one that seems to have no difficulty acquiring satellite data through the aluminum pilothouse roof (it's got no problem upgrading its own firmware as well once I pointed out the club's WiFi), I started to tally all the GPSes I had aboard.

I listed six at first:

1. B&G chart plotter
2. SH GX 2200 base VHF
3. SH HX850 handheld VHF
4. SH HX870 handheld VHF
5. Elderly Magellen 315 handheld GPS
6. Even more elderly Magellan Pioneer (the last two are devoted to the ditch bag)

Then I realized I wasn't adding properly.

I have two "puck" receivers for my OpenCPN-equipped netbook that, of course, makes it into a functional plotter. I also have a retired, but functional Raymarine 420 monochrome plotter and a GPS mount I could hook back up quickly.

I have a well-swung Ritchie Globemaster compass I use for steering at the pilothouse helm because it's more reactive than the GPS. I have an old but working fluxgate compass, a KVH AC103, that gives good heading.

Lastly, I have a Suunto Ambit 2.5 wrist-top computer equipped with GPS. Plus an old Windows phone (disabled at present because of my sad data plan) I could, in a pinch, activate.

Did I mention my lead line, hand-bearing compass (requires current charts and at least some confidence that one is sailing near the shoreline the chart encompasses). Not to mention three sextants? With current almanacs and a means to know the time in Greenwich, naturally. And I have a fairly good handle on steering by the stars, should the stars be visible.

So getting lost would require some effort. Nonetheless, it's one of my sailing goals.