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Could an amateur pilot an ocean going vessel?
A little involved, but bear with me:
I'm considering writing a story. In the story the characters have a need to cross the ocean by ship. It is set in a post-apocalyptic world, so navigational aids like GPS will not be available, nor will there be any kind of maritime policing or regulations to comply with.
From those who know, how difficult is it to pilot (is that even the right verb?) an ocean going vessel? Although I am rather mechanically inclined, I have only a vague idea of how they work. It seems most operations could be carried out from the wheelhouse?
What is the minimum size of a ship to make a trans-oceanic voyage?
Ok, angry guy. First off, this is not the entire premise of the story, but a small part in a larger arc. I know about most of the rest of the ideas I have, and those I don't I'm not afraid to research and learn about. Besides, if all writers stuck to only those things they knew, then by definition, there would be no fantasy genre - since fantasy is, well, not real. And I refuse to take a creative writing class. Some of the best books ever written were not done by people who took a creative writing class. I'm not trying to make a career out of this, or even get the thing published. I just want to write this story. I'm an engineer by trade and this is only a long considered project of mine.
And I already mentioned GPS would not be available. And speaking of talking only what you know about, can you even tell me why GPS wouldn't be available? Your answer is less than helpful and more than useless.
Navigation is really the smallest of my questions. I was worried more about starting and m
aintaining the engines, bilge pumps, etc. The nuts and bolts of operating a boat. By ocean-going vessel I mean any boat capable of making an ocean crossing. There will be a small group of people, rather than a loaner. Perhaps three or four.
4 Answers
- AtLargeLv 710 years agoFavorite Answer
Ocean going vessel is a little vague. I would need charts and such ( do your research). . So you have to know your course or you are clueless and yes paper charts are available. You need more than a mechanical knowledge to captain a ship (and a ship is much larger than I think someone could handle on their own.) Even a rogue wave can knock a large vessel over or cause much damage. I think you need to do a lot more research before you try to write about this, and not on YA - I could write you a book. But then I would want money to fill up the kitty.
- 10 years ago
I live for situations like the one you are describing. I think anything is possible if you have the will to make it happen. As far as navigation goes, if you had no compass or GPS you could use the sky. A person could study the skies for days before setting sail (it would pretty much need to be sail boat) and I learned how to sail by jumping in the boat and experimenting. Soon I had learned how to sail against the direction of wind by going from one side to the other and back, slowly making forward momentum. In a post-apocalyptic world, I would say that even a 25 ft sailboat in good shape would work. Actually, anything larger than 30 ft might be too much for one person to handle, especially a novice. Getting back to the navigation stuff, he could survey the skies while on land, where you know general directions of north, south, etc. You could choose to watch for the red star, which is the shoulder of the constellation Orion to find stars in neighbor constellations. If you look up "constellation Orion" on Wikipedia, you will see an explanation of how sailors have used it for centuries. Look down the page for the heading NAVIGATION. Have him take lots of food, possible some water tight containers that could be tied to the boat to free up space inside. Sounds like a cool story. Remember you are in tsunami waters in the Pacific and you are in hurricane waters in the Atlantic.
Source(s): Lived onboard my own boat in the San Juan Islands for over 3 years. - Geoff BLv 710 years ago
People have rowed across in a 24footer row boat
The vikings did the same in larger boats with more oars without gps or maps/charts
- eriquezLv 45 years ago
Thats now not noise mate, that's the sound of FREEDOM! if now not for the ones "noisy warbirds" of WWII you could be talking/typing in German, riding a volkswagon (might be), and residing below a Dictator. if that sounds well to you , maintain complaining approximately the quick time period noise...or smile realizing what the ones planes constitute! Oh! your welcome btw.
