Dead Reckoning (DR)
Estimating a vessel’s position by advancing a known position using course steered, speed through the water and elapsed time.
A dead-reckoning position, commonly marked DR, is plotted without using a new external position observation. In the traditional UK distinction, effects such as tidal stream and leeway are applied to obtain an estimated position rather than being included in the basic DR construction.
Errors in the starting position, compass, log, steering and time accumulate as the plot is advanced. Regular fixes, soundings and other independent observations should therefore be used to check and reset the estimate; an electronic heading vector is not automatically a full dead-reckoning solution.
How to plot Dead Reckoning
A step-by-step guide showing how to plot Dead Reckoning. This chart plotting technique is taught in the Plotting Positions module of the Day Skipper Theory course.
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Terms with the same meaning:
Dead-reckoning Position
