How to postpone a bearing with the reporter rule?

The bearing makes it possible to position oneself precisely at sea. Once the heading has been plotted on deck with the bearing compass, here is how to plot this on the chart.

François-Xavier Ricardou Published on September 9, 2022

After seeing how to use a Rapporteur Breton navigation rule now we'll find out how to postpone a relÃ¨vement. To position yourself at sea, you use a relÃ¨vement compass. This compass relÃ¨ve âeuros as its name suggests âeuros the course of a bittern identified on land. By aligning the bittern with the compass, we read a course. By plotting it on a chart, you begin to locate yourself.

Postpone a bearing in 4 steps

Turn the protractor disc to indicate the heading value read by your compass (in this case, we've taken a heading of 103° on deck, as shown in the magnifying glass).

By rotating the âeuros rÃ¨gle and taking care not to rotate the protractor at the center of the âeuros rÃ¨gle, you align the protractor grid with a meridian (vertical line) or a parallel (horizontal line). The most practical choice depends on the position on the map. In our example, we choose to align a meridian. Be sure to place the square with North (N) at the top.

Simply slide the ruler so that it passes over the point being surveyed. Here we've plotted the southern cardinal of the Plateau de la Recherche in Quiberon Bay. Make sure that the grid is always aligned with the map.

You also need to take magnetic variation into account before drawing your line. This is the subject of a companion article Understanding and using magnetic variation .