🔍 Key Concepts

• Effect of a following or opposing current on your vessel’s speed made good through the water vs. over the ground • Vector addition of your ship’s speed and the current’s set and drift • Using the current’s direction (000°T) relative to your course (215°T) to decide if it helps or slows you down

💭 Think About

• First, decide whether this current direction is helping you, opposing you, or mostly from the side, based on your course of 215°T. • Compare the vessel’s engine speed (through the water) to the resulting speed over the ground when a current is acting nearly ahead, astern, or abeam. • Think about whether the numeric effect on your speed made good should be close to the full current value, much less than it, or somewhere in between, given the angle between course and current.

✅ Before You Answer

• Confirm the difference in direction between your course (215°T) and the current direction (000°T) and classify it as head, stern, or side current. • Decide whether the current’s component along your track will add to or subtract from your 12-knot speed. • Estimate the along-track component of the 2.3-knot current using basic trigonometry or by judging the angle, then see which answer choice is closest to 12 knots adjusted by that component.