Chart Navigation & Plotting · Sailings — Composite
When is a composite great-circle track used instead of a pure great circle?
- AWhen no chart of the area is available
- BWhen the rhumb line is shorter
- COnly on equatorial crossings
- DWhen the great circle would carry the vessel into latitudes higher than a chosen limiting parallel (e.g., into ice or beyond safe latitude)✓ Correct
Explanation
A composite track follows a great circle until it reaches a limiting parallel, runs along that parallel, then takes another great circle to the destination. It keeps the vessel from straying into dangerous high latitudes while staying near minimum distance.
Authority: Bowditch (Pub. No. 9), composite sailing
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