Track versus Rolling Road

Running down towards a waypoint in a sailing boat, it’s often better to use the compass option from the ‘GoTo’ menu than the alternative ‘rolling road’. The trick is to adjust the course steered so as to keep the bearing of the waypoint and the track reading the same. The cross-track error readout tells you how far you have drifted from the original straight line. The rolling road is a demanding system that encourages frequent minor course changes. It’s great for high-speed powerboats, but on a slow vessel it can raise stress levels and induce square-eyed dependence on the screen. The comparison of track and bearing to the waypoint is a gentler method of achieving the same result.