[craigepo]

We fish some pretty big lakes here in the southern Missouri/northern Arkansas area, i.e. 700 miles of shoreline. During the day, it isn't too hard to find your way back, especially with the Corps-installed mile markers. At night, it's almost impossible.

I have a compass mounted on my boat, and try to keep a map of every lake I fish. However, a few years ago, I broke down and bought a fishing graph with a GPS unit built in. For a few extra dollars, you can buy an SD card with maps of 1/2 of the United States, and so when you turn the unit on, it automatically plots your spot on the map. Might be a little tough to do on a jet ski.

My old team medic was into obscure stuff. When he started sailing, he wanted to learn how to really navigate on open water. So, he went and learned how to use the sextant. I have to say, the damned things are accurate, but you need to be really capable with them before trusting your life to one.