1.1.4.

Sailings

a. introduction great circle and rhumbline

The art of sailing is to determine course and distance between two points on
Earth, departure position and arrival position. In many cases a direct line can not
be followed due to obstructions such as land, islands, etc. In such we need to sail
between waypoints guaranteeing safe navigation.
Sailing along the coast or between islands or continents not far away from each
other will be done by using rhumblines. Ocean passages merely use great
circle sailing.

What is a rhumbline?

A line which maintains the same angle with respect to true north, (it also
maintains the same angle crossing all meridians) is called a rhumb line. When
traveling along a rhumb line it would appear (over a short distance) that you
were traveling in a straight line, but the path is actually a curve on the earth’s
sphere, and if extended it will eventually spiral in on the North or South pole.
(Except for the case where the direction is exactly East or West.) It is also called
loxodrome.

What is great circle sailing?

The rhumb-line track is very convenient, because the ship keeps to the same
course through the whole trip. Its disadvantage is that the straight line may not
be the shortest path between its endpoints, when measured back on the earth's
surface.

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The earth's surface is (to a good approximation) a sphere, and the path of
shortest length between two points on a sphere is the great-circle arc between
them. The great circle in question is the intersection of the spherical surface with
the plane passing through the two points and the center of the earth.

The great-circle path is different from the rhumb line unless the two points are
both on the equator or both on the same meridian. If the points are nearby the
difference between the two paths is inconsequential. But for distant points the
difference may be substantial.

The yellow line is the great circle path, also called orthodrome, the pink path is
the loxodrome.

Great circle sailing will be considered in detail in 3° bachelor.

b. rhumbline sailing principles

Courses and distances can be derived from charts. The smaller the scale of the
chart the more inaccurate the findings will be. A mathematical solution is the
only option to obtain accurate results.
Accuracy in course is important in order to follow the correct track, accuracy in
distance is important for many reasons:
- economical
- environmental
- juridical
Economically spoken, the owner, charterer, ship’s agent, stevedores, port
authorities,… need to know the estimated time of arrival (ETA) so they can take
appropriate actions to welcome the ship in the port of destination without delay.
Distance and average speed will give us the sailing time. Sailing time and
average fuel consumption per day will inform us about the fuel volume, also
called bunkers, needed to carry out the voyage.

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Propulsion is based on fossil fuels and enough bunkers are required to complete
the voyage. Once the distance is known, the owner/charterer can decide to go on
economical speed to reduce fuel consumption which has his effect on air
pollution.
When the distance incorporate an error leading to late arrivals, claims towards
the ship owner are formulated sometimes ending into a juridical affair.
The importance of knowing the correct direction (course) and distance is of vital
importance to ship, crew and third parties – all involved in the sea adventure.
As mathematical solution will give us high accuracy and charts are
mathematically constructed (especially Mercator construction), formulae have to
be used and related to each type of chart.

c. parallel sailing

This is the easiest way of sailing and was used already in the years BC.
Determination of the latitude was known already. So when ships sailed the high
seas without any landmark or land in sight, parallel sailing was used, said
sailing on the same latitude or parallel .
An old poem clearly indicates this way of sailing (extract):

“Once you and I set sail at the same time,

It was at daybreak,
But Divine Order revealed itself:
Although we were both heading towards the rising sun,
We set sail in different vessels.”

Another text from History of Navigation:

“Since they could find latitude, but not longitude, navigators practiced parallel
sailing whereby a vessel traveled east or west along a parallel of latitude for a
preplanned distance. When clear of any hazards the vessel then headed to it's
destination. Because the vessel wasn't taking the most direct route to her
destination, parallel sailing wasted a lot of time, and that meant exposing the
crew to prolonged bouts of Scurvy, a potentially deadly disease caused by the
lack of vitamin C in the diet. In addition, errors in deducing the distance
traveled sometimes resulted in disaster. On the foggy night of Oct. 22, 1707, just
such a mistake sank 3 British warships, killing 2000 men.”

Parallel sailing is still used but in particular in combination with great circle
sailing. We deepen this topic in the 3° bachelor.

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What is parallel sailing?

• Used for vessels proceeding due east or west.

• Replaces Mid-Latitude and Mercator sailing in that circumstance.
• Interconversion of departure and difference of longitude.

Course and distance

In parallel sailing the course does not need to be calculated and will be due East
(090°) or due West (270°).
The distance is the arc of the parallel we sail on.
In such distance (M) can be obtained by formulae:

M= Dlon x cos l (= Departure see middle latitude chart)

d. Middle Lattitude sailing

The formulea are related to the middle latitude chart.

Typical mid-latitude sailing problems are:

(1) knowing latitude and longitude of points of departure and estination,
solving for course and distance
(2) knowing latitude and longitude of point of departure, and course and
distance made good, solving for the latitude and longitude of the point
reached.

Note carefully that when the course line crosses the equator, the problem must
be broken down into two separate triangles of north and south latitude and
solved separately.

Middle latitude sailing:

• Used to solve for course and distance knowing points of departure and
arrival; or for position at arrival knowing course and distance made good
from a point of departure.
• Uses mean latitude for converting departure to difference of longitude
when the course is not due east or due west.
• More accurate than plane sailing or charting solutions.
• Must use 2 separate triangles if the course crosses the equator.

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What are the basic equations?

Dep

Dlat
A

A= angle to the meridian

M= distance
In the triangle we see Dep and Dlat as the two other sides.

Dep is found by the formulae: Dep = Dlon x cos lm

(lm = middle latitude)

How to find Dlat,lm en Dlon?

Lat. Departure Long Departure

- Lat. Arrival - Long Arrival
Dlat Dlon

Lat. Departure +/- Dlat/2 = lm

Lat. Arrival +/- Dlat/2 = lm

Formulae course and distance:

Tg A = Dep/Dlat
M= Dlat x sec A

In the formulae M , Dlat is used because distances (miles) are always related to
the arc on the meridian.

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To find the course (figure Cn), the angle A (figure = C) has to be considered as
a quadrantal direction.
Example : A= 23°, quadrant is SE : Rv = S 23°E = 157°

In the Norie’s Nautical Tables, one specific table is pre-computed for middle
latitude sailing: Traverse Tables. With the elements Dlon and Dlat, the
elements Dep, Rv (quadrantal) and M can be computed (or vice versa).
The explanation of the Traverse Tables is incorporated in the course Navigation
practice.
On the Internet, there exist a site to calculate by means of Traverse tables:
[Link]
An extract can be found on the next page.

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 Table 4. Traverse Table

Enter known data in the appropriate fields. Place checkmarks next to

the fields you want calculated. At least two of the four values must be
provided.
Course Angle: (degrees)
(minutes)
Difference of Latitude: (degrees)
(minutes)
(nautical
Departure:
miles)
(nautical
Distance:
miles)

Return to Tables Index

e. Mercator sailing

The formulea are related to the Mercator chart.

Mercator sailing:

• Mathematical solution for finding course and distance on a mercator

construction.
• It is similar to plane sailing, but uses meridional difference and difference
of longitude in place of difference of latitude and departure.
• Can also be done by charting on a mercator chart, but the mathematical
solution is more precise than chartwork can be.
• If used to predict destination Lat/Lon, can have appreciable error in DLon
if course is near 090o or 270o, so not used for courses due east or west Use
parallel sailing in those cases.

Seen the construction of the chart, we need two triangles to demonstrate course
and distance formulae.

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Course (Mercator construction)

Dlon

Dlc

In the triangle we find the formulea for the angle A:

Tg A = Dlon/Dlc

Dlc = difference in meridional parts between latitude of departure and latitude of

arrival

Now, we have incorporated the voluntary deformation of reality into the

Mercator construction and compensated in the formulea and find the correct
angle corresponding with reality.

Distance

Here we can use the same formulae as used in middle latitude sailing:

M = Dlat x sec A

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 Dlat M
A

Taking the remark (if used to predict destination Lat/Lon, can have appreciable
error in DLon if course is near 090o or 270o ) another more accurate formulae for
quadrantal angels of A between 70° and 90° has to be used:

M = Dlat x tgA x cosecA

On the Internet, a computing system can be found on:

[Link]

Extract on next page.

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 Mercator Sailing

Origin (Initial Position)

Latitude : North
degrees minutes
Longitude : East
degrees minutes

Destination (Final Position)

Latitude : North
degrees minutes
Longitude : East
degrees minutes
Beginw aarden

Results
Course to make : degrees true
Distance to make : nautical miles
Culmulative Distance : nautical miles

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