No matter where you are on the earth’s surface, a magnetic compass will point toward the magnetic North Pole.  Of course, we all know this.  However, knowing and doing are two different things.
Armed with this knowledge and the latest navigation charts, we will always be able to find our way out of danger on the water.  Even without paper navigation charts – which by law we must have on board our boats - a magnetic compass will help guide us out of danger as long as we know roughly where we are, where we were going, and in which general direction safety lies.
This is a simple practicality that all recreational boaters must know as part of the requirements to obtain their Operator Competency Card.  What isn’t mentioned in the text of the regulations for the Competency Card is the fact that having a magnetic compass on board a pleasure craft is the law with only one exception – if your vessel is eight metres or less in length and you are navigating within sight of navigation aids.
You also won’t find the compass in the list of items that you must have on board your boat as prescribed in the Small Vessel Regulations (SVR). That’s because the lowly magnetic compass was already in former regulations entitled “Navigating Appliances and Equipment Regulations” that covered equipment requirements for everything from ocean going vessels to pleasure craft – long before the SVR came into being.
As of May 2005, those old “Appliances and Equipment Regulations”, as part of all the other work that was being undertaken to update Canada’s ancient marine laws, were rewritten as the “Navigation Safety Regulations”, and are now appended to the Canada Shipping Act 2001.  Confused yet?
By 2006, those with an eye for detail would have noticed the Safe Boating Guide, which is published by Transport Canada, contained a reference to the new regulations and the need for a magnetic compass on board. Eagle-eyed boaters browsing the Transport Canada web site would have also recently noticed that it was being updated with compass information: http://www.tc.gc.ca/acts-regulations/GENERAL/C/csa/regulations/400/csa446/csa446.html#General_Equipment_Requirements
These changes and oversights have caught more than a few high-tech boaters by surprise.  These are the folks who have a GPS, electronic charts and all the other latest electronic navigating gizmos and gadgets hooked up in their boat.  Their dashboards look like airplane cockpits and their current draw would make Al Gore wince.
Partly to make room for the new stuff, and partly because they wanted to get rid of the old-tech, the magnetic compass that came with their boat was either removed entirely, or was relegated to the spare parts locker.
However, in order to be compliant with the regulations that old compass needs to be revived, re-installed and checked to make sure it functions correctly – especially with all the new electronic current that now surrounds it.
“Why?” you might ask. “The GPS and the electronic charts help me find my way through the thickest fog and the darkest of nights. Surely they will help me find my way home in an emergency?”
It is true. They will. Or at least they might … if they continue to work. Safety equipment can not help you to help yourself if it is not functioning.  And of course we all know that when things go wrong, they go really wrong.  A lightening strike could take out all your equipment, or a short, or a failure, could render you suddenly “blind.”
This is why the good old fashioned magnetic compass, and paper charts, are so important to have on board your vessel.  As this column has mentioned numerous times over the past nine years, boats aren’t like cars. You can’t pull off to the side of the road and call the auto club for help. You have to be able to help yourself.  And the low-tech magnetic compass will never let you down.
Of course anyone who has studied even a little bit of navigation understands that a compass must be “swung” once it is installed on a boat to determine what “deviation” exists on the boat due to internal elements – such as electronics, metal structures and other factory or owner installed elements.
If your boat comes from the factory, the compass should have already been “swung”, and as a result there should exist somewhere on board a Deviation Card, or Deviation Table.  (Don’t trust this – check it for your own piece of mind.) On board ocean going and other ships, these Deviation Cards or Tables, must be readily available to the helmsman.  While pleasure craft compasses must also be “swung,” the Deviation Card does not have to be readily available to the helmsman.  But it should be.
Once you have the Deviation for a specific heading and you check the chart for Variation listed on the Compass Rose nearest your location, you will know fairly well what direction you are actually heading by using the standard TVMDC formula. This stands for True, Variation, Magnetic, Deviation, Compass, or its more popular refrain, True Virgins Make Dull Company!
Swinging a compass is not terribly difficult – although it requires patience and precision - but it is beyond the scope of this column. But if you have some time, you should familiarize yourself with all of this and make yourself a better navigator.  Some less-than-fine day when things go really wrong, your safety may ultimately depend on it. (Page Top)