Parallel and Plane Sailing

UNIT 2 PARALLEL AND PLANE SAILING

Structure
2.1 Introduction
Objectives

2.2 Definitions
2.3 Parallel Sailing
2.4 Plane Sailing
2.5 Mean or Middle Latitude Sailing
2.6 Use of Plane Sailing Formulae
2.7 Use of Traverse Tables
2.8 Summary
2.9 Key Words
2.10 Answers to SAQs

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Sailings are various mathematical methods of calculating course and distance between
positions and determining arrived position when course and distance is known.
Sailings are also various methods of navigating from one position to the other, i.e. rhumb
line (constant course) sailing or great circle (changing course) sailing or composite
sailing. In this unit, only parallel, plane sailing and Mercator sailing will be discussed.
Objectives
After studying this unit, you should be able to
• define rhumb line, departure, true course,
• derive the parallel sailing formula,
• explain the relationship between departure and difference of longitude in
cases involving a change of latitude by using mean latitude,
• explain the plane sailing formulae,
• state limitations of plane sailing formula,
• describe the layout of a traverse table,
• obtain the information required in a parallel or plane sailing problem using
a traverse table,
• calculate the distance between two position on the same parallel of latitude
using plane sailing formula : ‘Departure = D′long × Cos latitude’,
• calculate the difference of longitude for a given distance run along a parallel
of latitude,
• derive the final position after sailing along a parallel of latitude,
• calculate the correct departure to use in a plane sailing problem,
• calculate the course and distance between two positions using the plane
sailing formula, and
• solve plane and parallel sailing problems using scientific calculator.

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Terrestrial Navigation
2.2 DEFINITIONS
Rhumb Line
A rhumb line is a line which crosses every meridian on the earth’s surface at the
same angle. The rhumb line is the most convenient track to follow as the course of
the ship may remain constant for the entire passage. A rhumb line is also known as
loxodrome or loxodromic spiral.
The equator and parallels of latitudes are rhumb lines as a ship sailing along the
parallels of latitudes will cross every meridian at an angle of 90º. All other rhumb
lines which cut the meridian at angle lesser than 90º will be curves which will
spiral towards the pole of the hemisphere, but theoretically never reaching it.
P

Lat 40ºN
A B
X X’ Y

E Q
C′
D′
A′
B′

Lat 40ºN
C
D
X′ Y′

P’

Figure 2.1

Departure
The departure between two points is the east-west distance between them
expressed in nautical miles or linear distance between meridians of the two points.
When the ship sails along same parallel of latitude, the departure is equal to the
distance travelled.
If a ship sails from A to B along the parallel of Lat. of 40ºN AB is the distance
travelled by the ship, and which is also equal to her Easterly Departure.
If you recall the definition of D′Long
Difference in Long (D′Long) is the shorter arc of the equator or the smaller angle
at the poles between the meridians of the two places.
When a ship sails from A to B, therefore, although AB is her departure, her
D′Long is A′B′ or angle APB as PAA′ and PBB′ are the two meridians passing
through A and B and A′B′ is the shorter arc of the equator which would be the
ship’s Easterly D′Long. Similarly, when the ship sails from a place C to D in south
latitude, CD would be her westerly departure and C′D′ her Westerly D′Long.
True Course
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 True course is the angle at the ship between True North (Geographic North) and Parallel and Plane Sailing
the ship’s head, that is the angle between the true meridian and the ship’s fore and
aft line.
In case of parallel sailing ship’s true course will be either east or west.
Ships course may be indicated in 360º notation as 115º(T) or in quadrantal notation
S65ºE.
North direction is written as 000º(T)
N35ºE means 035º(T)
East means 090º (T)
S65ºE means 115º(T)
South means 180º (T)
S45ºW means 225º (T)
West means 270º (T)
N75ºW means 285º (T)
N01ºW means 359º (T)
Parallel Sailing
When a ship sails along same parallel of latitude, the course is either east or west
and to calculate distance sailed or arrived position the parallel sailing formula is
used.
Plane Sailing
When a ship sails from one place to another on rhumb line other than parallel of
latitude, to calculate distance sailed or arrived position the plane sailing formula is
used.

2.3 PARALLEL SAILING

When a ship sails along a parallel of latitude the position reached and distance sailed is
calculated using parallel sailing formula :
Departure / Difference in longitude (in minutes) = Cosine of latitude
If the vessel sails along equator that is when the latitude is zero, then the departure and
d′long will have the same value. Please note that cos 0º = 1. From above formula, one
can make out that departure will always be less than d′long except at the equator where it
is equal to d′long. One can also see that the value of departure diminishes as one goes
from the equator to the poles.
Proof of Parallel Sailing Formula
In Figure 2.2, N and S represent poles of earth.
N Q S and NPS are two meridians passing through points p and q respectively.
O is the center of the earth and WPQE is equator.
Points p and q are on same parallel of latitude, i.e. FF′.
Arc pq is departure between points p and q.
PQ is D′long between points p and q.

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Terrestrial Navigation N

C
F F′
p
q

O
W E

P
Q

Figure 2.2

Arc pq / arc PQ = departure / D′long.

Arc pq / arc PQ = radius Cq / radius OQ . . . (1)
Arcs are proportional to respective radii as shown in Figure 2.3.
N

q
C
Lat.

Lat.
Q O

Figure 2.3

Radius OQ = Oq (both radii of earth)

Therefore, arc pq / arc PQ = radius Cq / radius Oq . . . (2)
In Figure 2.4, OqC is right-angled plane tri-angle so Cq (base) / Oq (hypotenuse)
= Cos. Angle CqO = Cos. Latitude

N, C, O

q
p Q
P

Figure 2.4

So from Eq. (1) and Eq. (2), we get

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 Departure / D′long = Cos. Latitude Parallel and Plane Sailing

The relationship between departure and difference of longitude may be written as :

Departure = D′long * Cos. Latitude
Example 2.1
A vessel sails due east along latitude 45° N for 320 miles. Find the difference in
longitude.
Solution
As the vessel is sailing due east therefore along a parallel of latitude then the
departure will be equal to distance.
Departure = 320’ Latitude = 45°
Using parallel sailing formula
D′long = dep sec lat
= 320 × sec 45°
= 452.5′
So difference in longitude = 452.5′ = 7°32.5′
∴ D′long = 7°32.5′ East
Example 2.2
A ship departs from position 7° 20′N 079° 10′E and arrives in position 7° 20′N
077°18′E after sailing for 6 hrs. Find the speed of ship.
Solution
As the ship has sailed on same latitude, i.e. parallel sailing.
D′long is 1° 52′ W d′long = 112′
Using the formula dep/d′long = cos lat
Dep = 112 × cos 7° 20′
Dep = 111.1′
As the ship has sailed on same parallel, departure is distance. Distance covered in
6 hrs is 111.1 miles. So speed of the ship = 111.1/6.
Answer : Ship’s speed = 18.51 kts.
SAQ 1
(a) Find d′long for 240 miles of departure at 55° S latitude.
(b) In what latitude will the number of miles of departure equal 1/3 of minutes
of d′long.
(c) Find distance between 28° 20′S 077°18′E and 28° 20′S 073°38′E.
(d) A vessel sets sail from 41° 20′N 178°38′E and steams 350 miles on an
easterly course. Find the arrived position.

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Terrestrial Navigation
2.4 PLANE SAILING
Plane sailing is a method of solving relationship between distance, d′lat, departure and
course when a ship sails along a Rhumb other than along parallel of latitude or meridian.
The Equator, all parallels of latitude and meridians are particular cases of rhumb lines, as
the course along the first two is always 090° or 270° and the course along any meridian is
always 000° or 180°. On the surface of the earth, all other rhumb lines will be curves
spiralling towards the pole of the hemisphere. This is so because on the earth the
meridians converge towards the poles (Figure 2.5).
If we consider very small portion of the earth’s surface, with reasonable accuracy we
could take it as flat surface and draw a Rhumb line which makes same angle with the
Meridians as shown below :

z
A

Figure 2.5

In Figure 2.5, AB is Rhumb line, angles x, y and z are equal angles which is course of the
ship.
From the above figure, one could make a plane right angled triangle as shown below :

C Departure
B
D′Latitude

Distance
Course

Figure 2.6

In right angled ∆ ABC in Figure 2.6,

Angle C is right angle as meridian cuts parallels of latitude at 90°
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Side BC = Departure (Perpendicular) ………….(East ~West distance) Parallel and Plane Sailing

Side AC = D′Lat (Base) ………….(North ~South distance)

Side AB = Distance (Hypotenuse) …………. (Rhumb line distance)
Angle A= Quadrantal Course
Using above triangle one can deduce the following plane sailing or rhumb line formulae :
Departure
= sin . Course
Distance
D' Lat
= cos . Course
Distance
Departure
= tan . Course
D' Lat
The quadrantal course is used in above plane sailing formulae. And ∆ ABC is shown for
sailing in North East quadrant, the triangles formed in other quadrants are shown below :
Departure

WEST EAST

Course

WEST EAST

Departure

Figure 2.7

Quadrantal course is the angle measured east or west from north or south meridian.
Quadrantal course can be found as follows :
True Course Quadrantal Course
000º ---x--- 090º N ---x---- E
091º ---x--- 180º S (180 − x) E
181º ---x--- 270º S (x − 180) W
271º ---x--- 360º N (360 − x) W

2.5 MEAN OR MIDDLE LATITUDE SAILING

To determine longitude of vessel after travelling along rhumb line, mean latitude or
middle latitude or Mercator sailing method is used. Middle sailing formula is obsolete as
Mercator sailing formula is used for accurate results and for distances up to 600 nm mean
latitude sailing is used.
Using plane sailing formulae, we can find departure, and d′lat but to find d′long,
departure needs to be converted to d′long.
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Terrestrial Navigation To convert departure into d′long or vice-versa the parallel sailing formula is modified
as :
Departure = D′long. × Cos Mean latitude

A D

B E

C F

Figure 2.8

Let us assume that a ship wishes to sail from a place C in lower latitude to a place D in
higher latitude.
When the two places C and D, as shown in Figure 2.8, are in different latitudes the
departure between them will be smaller than the distance CF and greater than the
distance AD. When the latitudes of the two places are fairly close to each other, the
departure between them may, for practical purposes, be considered equal to the east-west
distance between the two meridians measured along the mean latitude BE. This concept
is used without appreciable loss of accuracy in mean latitude sailing problems.
To find departure between two positions on different latitude, mean lat is used in the
parallel sailing formula. To find mean lat the procedure has already been explained in the
previous unit. Mean latitude is merely the arithmetic mean between the two latitudes.
The mean latitude formula can be used for distances less than 600 nm without loss of
practical accuracy. The error in distances and position increases when the latitudes are
high even when distance is less than 600 nm.

2.6 USE OF PLANE SAILING FORMULAE

Plane sailing formulae are used in determining ship’s position after sailing on a course or
different courses for known distances. These formulae are also used to calculate course
made good and distance made good between two known positions or to find rhumb line
course to make good and distance to go between known positions. If the correct departure
can be found for positions in different latitude and meridian then the plane sailing
formulae has no limitation of 600nm. Plane sailing formulae in conjunction with
Mercator sailing formulae (discussed in Unit 3) gives very accurate results.
The following examples have been solved using scientific calculator and plane sailing
formulae.
Example 2.3
A vessel sails on a course of 235º (T) for 225 miles. Find difference of latitude and
departure she makes.
20 Solution
 Course 235º (T) means S55º W quad. Course Parallel and Plane Sailing

Distance = 225 miles

Using plane sailing formula i.e. d′lat / dist = cos Co.
D′lat = dist cos. Co. = 225 × cos 55
D′lat = 129.05′ = 2º 09.05′S
(named N or S depending on course)
For dep. Using dep / dist = sin Co. So dep = dist × sin Co.
Dep = 225 × sin 55 = 184.3′W
Dep = 3º 04.3′W
(named E or W depending on course)
N

W E
D′Long

55o D′Lat

Distance

Figure 2.9
Example 2.4
Find the course and distance between the following positions :
10º 43′.0 S 005º 56′.0 W and 06º34′.0S 018º 05′.0 E
From Position 10º 43′.0 S 05º 56′.0 W
To Position 06º 34′.0S 18º 05′.0 E
D′lat : 4º 09′.0 N d′long
24º 01′.0 E
D′lat : 249′.0 N d′long 1441′.0 E
M′lat : 08º 38′.5 S
Dep. = D′long. × cos M′lat
= 1441 × cos 08º 38′.5
= 1424′.6 E
Tan course = dep/d′lat
= 1424′.6/249
Course = N 80.09 E (N north comes from D′lat) (E east comes from Dep)
Distance = dep/sin course
= 1424.6/ sin 80.09 = 1446.2 n. miles 21
Terrestrial Navigation

05o N

Posn Equator
o
06 34′S
o
18 05′E 05o S
Posn
10o 43′S 10o S
05o 56′W
15o S

05oW 0o 05o E 10o E 15o E 20o E

Longitude

Figure 2.10

Example 2.5
A vessel left position 34º 18′.0 N 178º 08′.0 E steered a course of 120º T for a
distance of 340′.0. Calculate the arrived position.
Solution
Course = 120º T = S 60º E
D′lat = Distance × cos course
= 340 × cos 60º
= 170′.0 S = 2º 50′.0 S
Dep. = Distance × Sin course
Dep. = 340 × sin 60º
= 294′.4
Position Left = 34º 18′.0 N
D′lat = 02º 50′.0 S
Arrived Lat = 31º 28′.0 N
Position Left = 34º 18′.0 N
= 01º 25′.0 S
Mean lat = 32º 53′.0 N
D′long = Dep/cos M′lat
= 294.4 / cos 32º 53′.0 = 350.6
= 6º 50′.6 E
Long left = 178º 08′.0 E
= 006º 50′.6 E
Long. Arrived = 184º 58′.6 E = 360º 00.0 – 184º 58′.6 E 175º 01′.4 W
Arrived position 31º 28′.0 N 175º 01′.4 W
SAQ 2
(a) A vessel left 25º 30′S, 107º 20′W and sailed for 45 miles on a course of 198º
22 (T). Find position of vessel after above run.
 (b) A ship sails from 07º15′N,079º 05 E and arrives in position 10º12 N, Parallel and Plane Sailing

076º45′. Find course and distance made good.

2.7 USE OF TRAVERSE TABLES

When a vessel sails along two or more courses and a combination of plane sailing
triangles are to be solved, traverse tables are an expeditious and easy means of solving
these right angled plane triangles. In solving the plane sailing problems we have used the
right angled triangle given below.
Dep

D′Lat
Distance
Co

Figure 2.11

The parameters COURSE, DISTANCE, D′LAT and DEPARTURE are the different parts
involved. Given any two of these parameters, the others can be obtained by solving the
right angled triangle.
The ‘traverse table’ is a ready made solutions of plane right angled triangles for distances
up to 600 miles, for each degree of course angle from 0° to 90°. These tables can also be
used in parallel sailing. For example, if one knows departure and mean lat, one can easily
find d′long or vice-versa.
These tables are available in Norie’s Nautical Tables or Burton’s Tables. This table,
therefore, enables solution of right angled plane triangles by inspection, without having
to do any calculations by calculator.
In quadrantal notation, for course angles upto 45°, the angles and column headings are at
the top of the page and for course angles between 45° and 90°, angles and column
headings are at the bottom of the page. When the course and distance are known, the d′lat
and departure may be read off directly against the distance on the page for that course
angle. Let us solve an example by using the traverse table of the Norie’s Nautical Tables.
Example 2.6
A vessel sails on a course 030º(T) for 225 miles. Find Difference of Latitutde and
Departure.
Solution
For course angle up to 45o, the angles and column headings are to be entered from
top. Entering the traverse table for course of 030o, find against 225 in the distance
(Dist.) column, D′lat of 194.9′ and departure 112.5′.
When, however, the d′lat and departure are known and the course and distance are
required, one has to search the tables, and interpolate until the given d′lat and departure
are found together. The distance can be read off against them, and the course angle read
off from top or bottom of the page, as the case may be. Usually some interpolation may
be necessary in the use of traverse tables. 23
Terrestrial Navigation When the d′lat is greater than the departure, the course angle will be less than 45°.
Conversely when the departure is greater than the d′lat, the course angle will be more
than 45°.
Example 2.7
Find d′lat and departure made good by a ship in sailing 104 miles on a course of
202º (T).
Solution
The quadrantal course for 202º T = S 22º W. On 22º Course page, looking for D′lat
and departure against distance of 104 miles we find D′Lat = 96.4′ = 1º 36.4′ and
departure = 39.0′.
Example 2.8
A vessel sails west for 360.5 miles along 42º latitude. Find d′long.
Solution
As vessel sailing east therefore distance = departure.
From traverse table on 42º page we find that against 360.5′ departure,
d′long = 485.1′ = 8º 5.1′ w.
SAQ 3
(a) Find course and distance made good by a ship whose d′lat was found to
be 431′ S and dep 132′ W.
(b) A ship after sailing east 260.5 miles had changed her longitude 6º 22′.
Find the parallel of latitude on which she sailed.

2.8 SUMMARY
Whenever ship sails on a east or west course, it is called parallel sailing. The distance
travelled on this course along parallel of latitude is equal to departure.
Parallel sailing formula is dep/d′long = cos lat.
When ship sails between two places on different latitudes then
Dep/d′long = cos mean lat
When ship sails along a rhumb line, it is called plane sailing. Rhumb line is a line on
surface of earth which cut all meridians at same angle. This angle is called course.
Plane Sailing Formulae
D′lat = dist × cos co.
Dep = dist × sin co.
Dep = d′lat × tan co.
24
Above plane sailing right angled triangle is solved in a tabular form and is known as Parallel and Plane Sailing
traverse tables. These tables are available in Norie’s Nautical Tables or Burton’s tables.

2.9 KEY WORDS

Departure : Departure is the E-W distance between any two
places.
Parallel Sailing : When ship sails on any parallel of latitude.
True Course : True course is the angle between ship’s head and
the meridian.
Rhumb Line : Rhumb line is a straight line on earth’s surface
which cuts all meridians at the same angle. This
angle is referred to as true course.
Plane Sailing : When ship sails on rhumb line.
Traverse Tables : Traverse tables given in Norie’s Nautical Tables or
Burton’s Tables which can be used in solving
parallel and plane sailing problems without using
scientific calculator.

2.10 ANSWERS TO SAQs

SAQ 1
(a) 418.4′ i.e. 06°58.4′
(b) 70°31.6′N or S
(c) 193.6 NM
(d) 41°20′N, 173°35.9′W
SAQ 2
(a) 26°12.8′S, 107°35.4′W
(b) Course : N38°01.3′W Distance : 224.7 NM
SAQ 3
(a) Course : S17°W, i.e. 197(T) Distance : 451 NM
(b) 47° N or S

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