From the other side of the coin…
At nav school (yes us WAFI’s do go to nav school) we are told to take a compass bearing on an approaching ship. If the bearing remains constant etc etc…
But on a small boat bouncing about in a 2m swell (something that you won’t feel on 80,000 tones), it is near impossible to get a steady HBC fix to less than 5 degrees when you are still five miles away.
The only totally safe option is to turn back and make our intentions very clear to you but we may not even be near getting close… or hold on until it becomes clear if we are going to get close. But I do understand that from your height, you may be looking and windering…
That presupposes someone is actually looking out the windows.