Originally Posted by
lightonthewater
When you life is at stake, one's faculties are sharpened. Back in the 1980s a very old coastal merchant navy skipper of my acquaintance was known to navigate around the North Sea largely by the shape, direction and frequency of the swell. He once woke from sleep in his cabin, sure that the ship was in the wrong place. He was right, and got to the wheelhouse in time to avoid grounding on a sandbar. The officer of the watch had missed seeing the buoy at which he should have altered course.
I can't get my head around that at all; having spent far too much of my time on boats, the only waves I see are related to the wind. Nevertheless, the same techniques have been used to navigate parts of the Pacific for time immemorial, and the charts were made from sticks.
As to the map orientation debate: We all have our own preference, but for me it depends on the type of navigation. For precise navigation following features (eg orienteering) map in direction of travel wins every time. When general positional awareness is more important than precise location - sailing, flying (at reasonable speeds, a sensible distance from the ground), hillwalking - it's always North up. My mental map for sailing races (which often use standardised courses oriented to the wind) is Wind up.