Interesting article.

With or without instruments it is a good practice to make note of environmental clues to supplement your primary mode of navigating. There are typically several indicators of direction available, from sounds to wind, waves and light. It is a fun exercise to head out in limited visibility conditions and attempt find your way around. This is best done with some navigation technology available but left unused. Keep your GPS turned off or compass under a hat while you try to make a crossing to an island in fog. I find that when I'm using a compass or GPS my field of perception narrows down to concentrate on keeping the dial indicator pointing the right direction. Navigating through environmental clues requires you open up your awareness to what is going on around you.

When I head out in a new area I make sure I turn around frequently to learn what things should look like coming home and keep track of landmarks, indicators of tide flow, wind direction, wave direction and where the sun is relative to where I'm going.

It is probably safest to use technology to supplement environmental clues so you maintain awareness of what is going on around you but have a compass as an objective indicator of what direction is what. In fog it is awfully easy to be sure that you see something that you can use as a navigational clue only to find that you are paddling in circles.