Navigation Refresher
The Breton Plotter – sometimes called a Portland Course Plotter – consolidates parallel rules, a protractor and the compass rose into a handy chartwork instrument that is the simplest tool for the job and hence ideal for the small boat navigator
It was invented by Captain Yvonnick Gueret a merchant navy skipper, yacht delivery captain and tutor who brought it onto the market in 1979.
Most are made of a hard plastic but they are brittle and once you have sat on one (and broken it) you’ll want to get one like this… This is a nice clear model, and super flexible – the Linex 2811 which is imported in the UK by Pelltech Ltd (below). I have had a similar version from Plastimo, since 1992, and although it’s a bit beaten up it’s still good to use.
The Breton is so simple to use it’s like Gueret used to say: “It’s probably easier to do it than to explain…”
The genius of the Breton is that the compass rose is on the plotter itself – all you have to do is orient the grid of the plotter rose to a meridian on the chart and you can work anyhwere on the chart.
You can plot a bearing taken with a handbearing compass very easily, or work up a course to steer from your position to your destination.
It also has a variation East and West scale (which can be used for deviation as well), where you can calculate these magnetic anomalies while on the chart. Navigation tutors tend to prefer you make a note (from compass to true and vice versa) and always work in true on the chart.
by Dan Houston
This plotter is the Linex 2811, made by Hamelin, RRP c. £20 or, for CS readers: £14.04 (+P&P) from Pelltech Ltd
Pelltech Ltd
Avenue 1, Station Lane, Witney,
Oxon OX28 4YS
Tel. 01993 776451
www.pelltech.co.uk