The new and improved four bearings method

[Kuikueg]

Originally Posted by irish1958

I would think some computer whiz could write a small program to input the bearings and times and come out with the course, location and speed.

You would need to input the info about your own position too, somehow, if you are maneouvring, and you would lose the simplicity and the freedom of the method. But anyway, that's not the point. The point is doing it yourself, with ruler and compass. If you want to confront the problems a real captain and his officers faced while hunting, the stress of having to calculate with limited time, etc, a calculator is not the way to go. The experience that comes from drawing in the chart may increase your ability to assess a situation with limited information and help you taking the right decision, in short: it will increase your seamanship. Of course, this is a matter of personal taste. In my case, I have even built myself a slide rule to avoid the use of an electronic calculator.
That's the reason why I'm not interested in the MB program alluded to in this thread. It sure is a fine piece of software, but if I wanted electronic help I would just relax the realism settings in the sim.