Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: navigare a vista

ho trovato contact flying, esiste contact sailing?
ho trovato sight-reading o sight-singing, esiste sight-sailing?
come si dice "navigare a vista", anche in senso figurato di "vivere alla
giornata" senza poter fare programmi?


Play it by ear.
-- 
Mary

Giò
A man has dreams of walking with giants,
to carve his niche in the edifice of time.
Before the mortar of his zeal
has a chance to congeal
the cup is dashed from his lips,
the flame is snuffed aborning.

 Play it by ear.
E "navigare a vista" nel senso letterale? Esiste oppure si dice solo "we can
see where we are going"?


"Dead reckoning" navigation is navigating without the use of any
instruments, and depending solely on charts and your presumed
location. You point the ship in what you hope is the correct
direction, without any landmarks as a reference, and then hope for the
best.
Joe from Massachusetts

Never heard about "dead reckoning navigation", however it does not seem to
be the same as "navigare a vista".
That would be sailing without the assistence of any instrument, which could
mean either that the sun is shining and you don't need instruments or that
you are sailing recklessly making up your way as you go along.
Hence "play it by the ear".


 Hence "play it by the ear".
"By ear".
But that phrase comes from the music world, and refers to people who can
play by ear, without needing to read the score.
-- 
Mary


Talking about physical navigation, maybe "visual navigation",
"point-to-point" navigation,
or "line-of-sight" navigation would be the equivalent of "navigare a
vista", which I take to mean navigation by observing points of
reference.
"Dead reckoning" is the most common form of navigation for sailors
equipped with no
instruments other than a timepiece and a compass.
http://www.auxetrain.org/Nav1.html
Prior to the discovery of the compass, navigation depended on
observation
of known landmarks, and mariners seldom strayed from shore.
Whether the sun is shining or not has nothing to do with the need for
instruments, if you can't see your destination or any other landmark.
Before GPS, most amateur sailors who didn't sail on the high seas
sailed using "dead reckoning", as Columbus did, with the assistance of
a watch, a chart, and a compass, and an estimate of the speed
of their boats. It is said that Columbus, rather than
relying on the standard knotted-rope method of determining
speed, relied on his personal interpretation of how the keel of the
ship felt as it rushed through the water.
Of course, accurate maps are necessary.
Without GPS, sailing from Capri to Ponza using "dead reckoning"
would involve setting a course to a known intermediate landmark
such as Ischia, and estimating arrival time determined by the speed
of
the boat, and when Ischia came into view, a new course to another
intermediate landmark such as Ventotene/Santo Stefano would be
calculated. When Ventotene came into view, another course would
be set for Ponza, the final destination.
Even with GPS, "dead reckoning" courses must still be calculated, but
the GPS observations allow for course correction en route.
"Dead reckoning" is not the same as "playing it by ear".
A sailor with no GPS or compass who attempted to sail on the
sea out of sight of land would be "shooting in the dark".
VFR (Visual Flight Rules and IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) apply to
pilots.
VFR does not mean flying completely without instruments, because a
pilot must fly at pre-determined altitudes, and the direction of
flight determines
at what altitudes a pilot may fly. In addition, a pilot flying VFR is
often required
to initiate radio contact with ground stations when entering congested
or restricted areas. Also, the pilot of an airplane has a very good
idea of his
air speed, and radio contact with weather stations gives him a good
idea
of wind conditions, unlike the sailor on a small boat.
When pilots set out on a flight, they often calculate their course
using "dead
reckoning".
Just as Columbus sailed the Atlantic using :"dead reckoning",
Lindbergh flew
from New York to Paris using the same basic navigation technique.
Joe from Massachusetts