For me the magnetic compass is used for simple direction alignment (which way is which?? ... I actually bring a small compass to places like Disney World & Sea World), orienting the map (usually in a pretty rough way - done that at DW & SW), and certainly as a backup plan in case the GPS stops working.

When I've canoed on big lakes with uniform shores I found it hard to determine if I'm going in a straight line - especially when there is a bit of side wind.

I've thought that a nautical-type (ball) compass would be nice for that, but with my old eyes it would have to be so big that I think it would get in the way, and certainly be too big for Boundary Water use.

I continue to struggle with the idea of navigating by field bearings in places where I can't travel in a straight line. As a young Boy Scout we did navigation in a huge area of mixed fields and wood, and went in straight lines through some nasty brush. I would think it would be tough to have to zigzag around natural pathways and have to repeatedly figure out the current location and set a new field bearing. Any insight on that would be appreciated (sorry if this is hijacking the thread though).