Continued discussions on techniques of rhumb-line sailing might well be considered irrelevant in today's climate of navigational technology. However, there is apparently one group of navigators who have a need for rhumb-line sailing by computation as opposed to direct measurement from a chart: this group comprises the navigators of merchant ships.

It may well be argued that traditional methods are adequate and that, although imprecise, the resulting errors are swamped by the errors of the data used. This argument is satisfactory for established navigators but, with the great improvements that have taken place in nautical education, does not hold for the teaching of newcomers.