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COG

The actual course you are moving along at the moment relative to the fixed land, meaning actual direction you travel regardless of the course steered and temporary variations in heading around this course. Things that cause COG to differ from heading include: current, leeway, poor helmsmanship, or compass errors.

Note we distinguish course over ground from course made good, as one being present dynamic value, and the other being past. The phrase "course made good," can be used to refer to a single track line or to the combination of several course changes between two points. If i sailed 1 mile north and 1 mile east, i made good a course of 045. Or, if i tried to sail course 200 but was being set between 10 and 20°, then i might end up "making good a course" of say 214.


The distinctions between terms is not often critical, but may help to clarify some communications.

As we use the term here is it essentially a derived GPS function when it comes to real values. Otherwise we are only estimating it.


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