🔍 Key Concepts

• Relative motion between two moving vessels on a maneuvering board or plotting sheet • Construction of the relative velocity (VR) vector from own ship speed and target ship speed/course • Using similar triangles or vector components to find the required course to steer at a given speed

💭 Think About

• First sketch or plot both positions: your ship at the origin and vessel A at its bearing and range. Then draw vessel As true course and speed vector. What does that look like on your plot? • If you must make good 13 knots and want to meet vessel A, your relative motion line must pass through vessel As current position. How do you combine your 13-knot vector with As 4.5-knot vector to achieve that? • Compare the relative track angle from you to vessel A with each of the answer choices. Which course direction (more northerly vs more westerly) makes sense, given A is ahead of you and moving on 233�b0T?

✅ Before You Answer

• Be sure you are measuring all angles from true north, clockwise, not from the line of sight or from east/west. • Confirm which vector is from you to A (line of bearing 346�b0T) and which vector is As true motion (233�b0T at 4.5 knots). Do not mix those up. • After you select a trial course, mentally check: with you faster than A and A moving generally southwest, should your intercept course be to the right or left of the bearing line 346�b0T? Eliminate options that place you obviously on the wrong side.