Terrible advice
"Don't make your first trip with a compass to a mile long Island ten miles off shore with a fifteen knot quartering wind.
You'll probably miss it by a few miles!
The modern world including aircraft, ships, etc has done away with the compass just as we have done away with the old slide rule in favor of electronics."
This is patently incorrect. A compass is required equipment on all aircraft. With little exception, most have at least two (magnetic and gyroscopic). GPS is a great navigational tool, but it isn't perfect. This is why all student pilots learn to navigate using pilotage and dead reckoning (using landmarks,speed, course and drift with a map, plotter and compass) before using electronic navigation systems. It is an FAA requirement.
Instrument pilot training goes even further and requires the student demonstrate holding course and executing turns using ONLY the magnetic compass. This requires solid understanding of magnetic error, dip and how those relate to a compass experiencing varying attitudes and acceleration/deceleration.
Find an ocean going ship that doesn't have a magnetic (mechanical or electronic) compass in the pilot house.
I would suggest you have no business making large crossings if you haven't mastered basic concepts like windage and correction angles. You're using technology (GPS) as a crutch.