Do you have a compass??

[phester]

I've got a Ritchie mounted on the helm.....don't think it's a $400.00 model but it got me back to port one night. The launch started out "misty" but we still had a couple hundred ft. visibility. Two hours later you couldn't see five feet beyond the bow. My friend [not the saltiest of fishermen]was becoming increasingly nervous.... shining my 2million candle power spotlight all over the place into the dense fog. I told him to shut up, turn off that damn light and sit down. I knew I had to head ENE and at "some point" south. Keeping an eye on the water depth and compass, finally, and hour and a half later my friend says ,"look you idiot....it's the Connecticut shoreline!!" That was my clue to head south,180*. [Rob had sighted the oil rig platform for the Long Island lighting co. and thought it was Conn.] Turned south and in port 1/2 hour later. If I didn't have that compass I would have just set the hook and waited it out. I would have had NO clue, none- what-so-ever, on which way to go in fog like that.