Sailing Then vs. Now: A Tech Tale from the High Seas

Ahoy, fellow sea dogs! Ever catch yourself squinting at a chartplotter and thinking, “Back in my day, we’d be lucky to have a compass that didn’t spin like a roulette wheel”? Well, hoist the main and cue the nostalgia—because we’re setting sail on a breezy tour of how cruising has changed from dead reckoning to digital routing.

If you remember scribbling fixes into a soggy logbook while balancing coffee and hope, this one’s for you.

Plotting Courses with Pencils and Prayers

Back then, if you wanted to know where you were, you didn’t ask Siri—you asked the stars. Maybe a compass. And if you were fancy, a taffrail log spinning off the stern, giving you a “close enough” idea of your speed.

One Canadian sailor recalled sailing from Hawaii in the 1960s using only a sextant and a brass compass, making landfall purely by celestial navigation—and perhaps a prayer or two. That was high-tech then!

Now? A teenager taps a phone and says, “Grandpa, the app says we’re off-course!”

Sextants and Star Charts vs. Smartphones and Satellites

Let’s talk nav tools.

Then: Sextants, celestial fixes, dead reckoning, and dodging clouds to sight Polaris.
Now: GPS, chartplotters, and nav apps that update faster than your grandkid’s TikTok feed.

Back in the day, a depth sounder beeped—if it felt like it. Now, your phone shows you a 3D rendering of the seabed with fish emojis. One veteran cruiser joked, “We used to chart our course with dividers and sweat. Now it’s just zoom and swipe.”

Still, nothing beats the thrill of finding land by sheer grit and compass bearing.

The Soggy Logbook and the Sacred Pencil

Oh, the trusty logbook. Waterproof? Not really. Organized? Rarely. But it was sacred.

You’d jot down coordinates every hour, sometimes fudging it after a squall erased your last entry. Some logbooks ended up more like water-stained journals than navigational records. But each scribble had a story.

Today? Your chartplotter logs your track, average speed, and even your snack breaks—automatically.

One old salt said, “We didn’t need a backup log…because we never had a working one in the first place.”

Autopilot, or the Watchstander Who Never Complains

Here’s a true marvel: the autopilot.

Then: You. At the helm. Rain or shine.
Now: “Ol’ Betsy,” your boat’s autopilot, doesn’t argue, doesn’t blink, and holds a course better than your teenage crew.

Many sailors today name their autopilots. One cruiser said his wind-based pilot was “Hawkins”—a gentleman of few complaints. When it broke, he replaced it with “Eric,” an imaginary 50-something who’d raced schooners in the ’60s. Hey, when you’ve been offshore for days, even your electronics get nicknames.

Autopilot humor aside, it’s a game changer for cruising couples who can now actually sleep.

The Taffrail Log vs. The All-Seeing Chartplotter

Let’s do a quick tech throwdown:

Old School	Modern Tech
Taffrail log with spinning rotor	GPS tracking to the tenth of a mile
Paper charts + dividers	Navionics or Garmin BlueChart on iPad
Celestial navigation	Satellite-integrated GPS apps
Logbook + wet pencil	Digital log + trip replay
Depth sounder that “sorta beeped”	Sonar with bottom mapping and fish-finder

One sailor described navigating by “feel and instinct” as being half art, half science. Today, your watch vibrates to alert you to a shoal before you even see it. Progress? Certainly. More fun? Debatable.

“Back When GPS Was a Maybe”

We love GPS now, but the early versions? Not exactly plug-and-play.

One sailor remembered hoisting the antenna higher just to get three satellites for a fix in 2D mode. Today, your watch, phone, and fridge probably have GPS.

You get real-time weather, currents, and wind overlays without ever licking your finger and pointing skyward. Convenient? Absolutely. But we do miss the drama of getting a position fix the hard way—and the pride that came with it.

“Depth Sounder? That Thing That Occasionally Chirped?”

Ah, the depth sounder of yore.

It sat bolted to the bulkhead, beeped in Morse-like mystery tones, and offered readings that were… best guesses. Sometimes you’d shout, “Twenty feet!” just before bumping into a sandbar.

Now? Your screen shows not only depth but seabed type, fish schools, and probably what they had for lunch. Even your anchor gets its own dedicated app.

Still, there was something charming about the unpredictability of it all. One sailor admitted he used a lead line and chalk into the early ’80s “just to be sure.”

Sailing by Stars, Now Replaced by Siri

Even celestial navigation—once the ultimate sailor’s badge of honor—is a rare skill.

Today, apps tell you where the North Star is and when it will rise. Back then, you had to learn your angles, trust your tables, and hope your wristwatch was accurate.

One sailing historian noted, “Most modern sailors have never used a sextant. And those that did, mostly did it for fun.” And that’s the truth.

It’s a reminder of how fast we’ve moved—from astro navigation to augmented reality.

A Bit More Cushy, A Lot More Connected

Let’s not forget the lifestyle part.

Then: kerosene lamps, cassette radios, and maybe a solar shower if you were lucky.

Now: solar panels, Starlink, Spotify playlists, and Nespresso machines below deck. One cruiser confessed they once had to use engine heat to warm water for dishes. Today, their induction cooktop syncs to their phone.

We may tease modern gadgets, but let’s face it—cruising has never been comfier.

What We’ve Gained… and What We Miss

Technology has made sailing safer, faster, and more accessible. But many of us still miss:

The challenge of making landfall using just instinct and tide tables.
The joy of plotting a perfect course on a paper chart.
The stories written between the lines of a stained logbook.

One sailor summed it up perfectly: “Even with all this tech, the best part of sailing is still the feeling of the wind and the thrill of the unknown.”

And maybe, just maybe, it’s okay to sail with one eye on the stars and one on the screen.

Your Turn! Drop Anchor in the Comments

Got a funny story about your old taffrail log? Ever named your autopilot or plotted a course with a pencil and crossed fingers?

We want to hear it! Share your favorite “back in my day” sailing moment in the comments below. Tag a shipmate who remembers when high-tech meant a depth sounder that sometimes worked.

And if this gave you a chuckle or brought back a salty memory, give it a share so more old-school sailors can join the voyage.

Fair winds—and may your batteries always stay charged!