Yes, they had incredible techniques. They could detect a remote island by the way the swell is disrupted. Also recently read about Magellan's voyage and it is remarkable that they made it.
Well, they didn't.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan#Voyage
> Of the 270 men who left with the expedition, only 18 or 19 survivors returned.
A 93% mortality rate really isn't a success by any metric. Losing 80% of your ships is nothing to be proud of either.
A little off topic, but as a reminder of how different the world used to be: families used to move across the US on foot, maybe with a wagon carrying their supplies, and many died doing so. I'm quite thankful I can just get on a plane to see my family :).
Also, as someone who needs to remind themselves occasionally to be less negative, I would encourage you to be less negative about things that aren't 100% a success.
P.S. If you really want to hate on Magellan it would make sense to do so for something like him burning a village in Mactan because they didn't want to convert to Catholicism[0], not this. You may be pleased to hear that this directly led to his death.