23.17 The Compass and Bearings at Sea

(See also: HELP SHIPS, HELP SAILING)

The compass for sea navigation has sixteen points. Winds may come from any of
those points, and ships may navigate towards any of those as well. The points
are also called bearings, or could be said as in 'bearing north-northeast'
for example.


        N            The 16 compass points in order clockwise from North:
   nnw  ^  nne
  NW    |    NE      North, North-northeast, Northeast, East-northeast
 wnw    |    ene     East,  East-southeast,  Southeast, South-southeast
 W   ---+---   E     South, South-southwest, Southwest, West-southwest
 wsw    |    ese     West,  West-northwest,  Northwest, North-northwest
  SW    |    SE
   ssw  v  sse
        S

(See also: HELP SHIPS)