4 ms·
No, not many people in continental Europe are comfortable with miles, feet and inches. But sailboat length is traditionally measured in feet. Same for aircraft
by exDM69 4y ago
No, not many people in continental Europe are comfortable with miles, feet and inches.
But sailboat length is traditionally measured in feet. Same for aircraft altitude.
So sailors and aviators are more likely to use feet (and nautical miles) as measurement.
- hanche 4y agoAnd knots. Speed limits at sea in Norway (in harbours and other places with much traffic and little room for maneuvering) are always in knots. But we measure water depth in meters, not fathoms.
- kimburgess 4y agoNautical miles have nothing to do with imperial units. It's now defined in reference to SI meter, but it originates as 1/60th of a degree of latitude.
- defrost 4y ago> it originates as 1/60th of a degree of latitude. So ... not even a fixed length but one that varies by latitude (given the Earth is an oblate spheroid | rotated ellipsoid | flattened sphere) that's something on the order of 20 metres of sloppiness by my reckoning.
- kimburgess 4y agoYep, 18m between the poles and the equator. …which is why the French Navy (who originally defined the unit) switched it to be SI derived in 1906 and the international standard was updated in 1929.