Patent ID: 8478464

Claim:
A system for orienting a marine vessel, comprising: a plurality of marine propulsion devices for orienting the marine vessel; a control device having a memory and a programmable circuit, the control device programmed to control operation of the plurality of marine propulsion devices to maintain orientation of the marine vessel in a selected global position; wherein the control device is programmed to calculate a direction of a resultant thrust vector associated with the plurality of marine propulsion devices that is necessary to maintain the vessel in the selected global position; wherein the control device is programmed to control operation of the plurality of marine propulsion devices to change the actual heading of the marine vessel to align the actual heading with the thrust vector; and a user input device that provides the control device with a signal that is representative of an operator desired movement; wherein in a first mode the control device is programmed not to control operation of the marine propulsion devices to change the actual heading of the marine vessel to align the thrust vector with the actual heading and in a second mode the control device is programmed to control operation of the plurality of marine propulsion devices to change the actual heading of the marine vessel to align the thrust vector and the actual heading; wherein in both of the first and second modes the control device is configured to control operation of the marine propulsion devices to maintain the selected global position of the marine vessel; and wherein the control device is configured to determine, with a global position sensor, that the first mode is unable to maintain the global position of the marine vessel and thereafter to automatically activate the second mode.