BEARINGSBy: Dilshan 8B1

What are bearings?Bearings are what we use to get accurate directions, to navigate ourselves, mainly when flying planes.

For example, the bearing of point P is 065º which is the number of degrees in the angle measured in a clockwise direction from the north line to the line joining the centre of the compass at O with the point P.

The 3 TermsCourse: A course is your planned paddling route. It’s usually marked on a map, although you can also just make a mental note. A course can be a straight line going from your point of departure to your destination, or it might consist of two or more legs. An example course shown in the image below starts in Washington Harbour, turns to the northwest corner of Rock Island and crosses to the South Bay of St. Martin Island.

Bearings: A bearing is the direction from your location to any distant point given in degrees from north. If you point your compass at a distant lighthouse and the compass reads 56 degrees, then the bearing to the lighthouse is 56 degrees. Read bearings in either true or magnetic.

Variation- In most parts of the world magnetic north, the direction your compass points, is not equal to true north, the direction to the north pole. Because, charts are aligned to true north, you must translate any bearings you take with your compass to true north before you can transfer them to a map, and you must adjust any course bearings taken from the chart to magnetic north. To do this, find the chart’s compass rose.

Course Bearing: The course bearing is the bearing you’ll follow to stay on a leg of a course. For example, the course bearing from “B” to “C” is 71 degrees true and 75 degrees magnetic. The course bearing from “C” to “D” is 30 degrees true and 34 degrees magnetic. To follow a bearing, point your kayak so your compass reads the course bearing and then paddle while keeping your compass pointed at that bearing. When marking a course bearing on your chart, you can mark true, magnetic or both.

Kayak

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LET’S ANSWER SOME

QUESTIONS!

Q1. A captain is sailing on his ship, The Titanic(x), and all of a sudden, there’s an iceberg(y) in front of the ship 5 metres away in the bearing of 020. The ship turns away from the iceberg in a bearing of 090 then goes to the coast(c) 10 metres away. Draw a map of this.

Q2. Try to guess the bearings of these diagrams:N N

N N

a. b.

c. d.

071

125

194

316

IT’S TIME FOR THE QUIZ!

Q1. What are bearings?1. Bearings are what we use to navigate ourselves

through space.

2. Bearings are simply ways of giving accurate directions.

3. Bearings are ways to navigate ourselves through the ocean.

4. Bearings are rings Bears where when they get married.

Q2. How many digits are used when writing down bearings?1. 2 digits

2. 4 digits

3. 3 digits

4. 1 digit

Q3. What are the bearings of the compass points?1. North=000/360, East=090, South=180,

West=270

2. North=000, East=090, South=180, West=270

3. North=090, East=180, South=270, West=360

4. North=360, East=090, South=180, West=270

Q4. Who mainly uses bearings?1. Kids uses it when they get lost in school, somehow.

2. Car drivers uses it to navigate themselves around the city.

3. Divers uses it to navigate themselves through the ocean.

4. Pilots uses it to navigate themselves while they’re flying the plane.

Q5. Which is the correct diagram of bearings?

N

E

S

W

360

270

180

090

N

S

E W

360

180

270 090

N

S

W E

360/000

270 090

180

a. b.

c.

THANKS FOR WATCHING THIS POWERPOINT AND I HOPE YOU LEARNT A LOT

ABOUT BEARINGS!