I recently installed a Garmin 1020 GPS in my J109 sailboat to replace an old Northstar GPS that was on its last legs.
on the Northstar it was easy to create a new waypoint that was a certain bearing and distance from an existing waypoint. this was important because many of our around the buoys races are set up with an inflatable mark that is located a certain distance and bearing from the starting mark.
so I was very surprised to learn that it is not possible to do that with the 1020, particularly when the 1020 is advertised with sailing features such as laylines, etc. I called Garmin and they confirmed that the only way to create a waypoint is by entering the coordinates or by locating the waypoint on the 1020 chart. in fact, they said my question was the first they ever had about this.
am I missing something or does anyone know how I could create a waypoint from a bearing and distance?
am I missing something
You are not missing something but Garmin is. Projected waypoints are essential for round the buoy racing and yet they don't know about it. Actually they do.
My Garmin GPSMap 78 does project waypoints and I use it every race for that purpose. However the manual makes no mention of it and it took a lot of finding. I can put the projected waypoint into my Raymarine plotter and create the route. Raymarine also don't know anything about projected waypoints and even with quite a lot of badgering from me did nothing to learn.
The people behind the design of these machines have a very narrow view of what navigation is about.
To project a waypoint I create a waypoint at the start line. Then open and edit that waypoint by projecting the distance and bearing. That creates a new waypoint which is the top mark.
Cheers
Chris