Sailing Compasses for Dinghy Racing

A Simple Guide to Choosing Sailing Compasses
List of Sailing Compasses for Dinghy Sailors
Books with Information on Using Sailing Compasses

Guide to Choosing Sailing Compasses

Choosing a sailing compass can be tricky if you haven’t used one before. It is difficult to be sure what style will suit you best, and what features will be most useful for your class.

That said, it actually isn’t something to get too hung up about. Most of the sailing compasses listed below will suit anyone with a little practice and a good basic understanding of how to use them. The most important thing when choosing between the sailing compasses on offer is to understand the features they have and how these suit your needs.

Here are some of the features to look out for:

A tactical scale – All of the analogue sailing compasses listed here have a tactical scale. It is so much easier to use a compass for tactical reasons if you are working off a simple scale rather than the 360°. Other similar compasses might be cheaper, but if you’re going for an analogue compass then a tactical scale is pretty essential.

Class legality – Your compass must be class legal, or you’re wasting your money. Check out which compasses are allowed, and have a look at what sailing compasses the guys at the front of the fleet are using.

Weight – It is easy to overplay the importance of weight. a few grams here or there are unlikely to cost most sailors positions unless you’re sailing at the highest level. In an ideal world you’d get the lightest compass with the least windage, but don’t over-think it – it shouldn’t be a deal breaker, but it could be a factor that tips you more one way than the other.