this is some of that government cheese that is a longstanding necessary function of what a government is supposed to do, this has a direct relation to maritime safety, im sure a portion of us are getting "miffed" that we are working full time to pay for a startling percentage of the nations grocery bill because they're lazy and like the idea of the baby lottery yet when we want to get basic navigational charts (a core requirement...the first thing you should have when boarding a vessel, more important than gps chartplotter radar flir combo pack intergrated navionics bs) we have to go get shucked like we do at the gas pump. private enterprise in this instance can stuff it, this isnt about private enterprise, this is about the buddy system government we have, the reason our gas prices are high, the reason we cant even vote out the smoke filled room policies.
NOAA Stops Printing Nautical Charts
- Thread starter Chuckbear
- Start date
rufus, did you ever wonder how you get paid so that you can have the privilege of earning enough money to pay taxes? Nobody is going to pay you without the profit motive creating a need for your labor. Profit earning individuals pay taxes, too ... most probably pay far more than you. Shouldn't they be miffed if the taxes they pay contribute to a government that competes against them? I think so ... government shouldn't be in the business of competing against private enterprise. First, they have an unfair advantage because the government can levy taxes to fund their operations, and they can give free stuff away. Why should you feel entitled to free stuff just because it makes you feel safer during your recreational pursuits?
I pretty much have a mindset that I have to pay for what I want. I find the whole entitlement attitude distressing. When there's nobody left to pay the bills, where are we going to be then? When the government chases all the profit earners away, then what?
This is just a tempest in a teapot anyway. The weather and charting info will come to you free or with very little cost anyway. Competition is a funny thing ... the more of it, the better your choices will be.
I pretty much have a mindset that I have to pay for what I want. I find the whole entitlement attitude distressing. When there's nobody left to pay the bills, where are we going to be then? When the government chases all the profit earners away, then what?
This is just a tempest in a teapot anyway. The weather and charting info will come to you free or with very little cost anyway. Competition is a funny thing ... the more of it, the better your choices will be.
i still maintain that there are other entitlement areas that need to be cut before we start hacking away at a time tested and established maritime safety provision, and its not recreation for me its my life as a full time liveaboard because the economy is such that i cant afford a house and cant tolerate an apartment that i will pay for and never own. to put it in a non-liveaboard perspective lets vote to take away the government regulation of your homeowners insurance, or remove government funding for all of your building codes and have that system privatized. all while boosting funding for obamas golf trips and ballooning the project funding for free government cell phones.
Well, yes, there are many complicated issues. It sounds like NOAA is just discontinuing an unnecessary practice to me. It's as if they decided that there is no need to produce buggy whips any longer. Let somebody else produce buggy whips if they think they can make some money doing it.
The upshot will be almost unnoticeable for most. Instead of a stack of charts, printed who knows how long ago, and sitting on a shelf for how many months??? (years?), you buy charts that are updated as of when they are bought (printed). When I used to buy NOAA charts, I always had to sit down and update them before use- PITA!!
Plus most cruisers on the east coast, Florida (both coasts) and Bahamas are buying chartbooks anyway, which won't change. Sadly there isn't one for the gulf coast, west of Florida. And in the Bahamas, the Explorer chart books are THE bible.
Personally, in the last 5 years, and some 10,000 miles of cruising, I have not bought a single paper chart, printed by NOAA. In fact, I can't even remember the last time I walked in and bought a single chart.
Chartbooks? Yes- I had 7 or 8 of those aboard. And also electronic charts. I also had (have) several POD charts, which were beautifully done. Quallity is excellent.
It's a tempest in a teapot - NOAA isn't stopping production of charts- just the printing of them. No big deal.
Plus most cruisers on the east coast, Florida (both coasts) and Bahamas are buying chartbooks anyway, which won't change. Sadly there isn't one for the gulf coast, west of Florida. And in the Bahamas, the Explorer chart books are THE bible.
Personally, in the last 5 years, and some 10,000 miles of cruising, I have not bought a single paper chart, printed by NOAA. In fact, I can't even remember the last time I walked in and bought a single chart.
Chartbooks? Yes- I had 7 or 8 of those aboard. And also electronic charts. I also had (have) several POD charts, which were beautifully done. Quallity is excellent.
It's a tempest in a teapot - NOAA isn't stopping production of charts- just the printing of them. No big deal.
It really sounds like a win win to me. NOAA keeps doing the hard work of charting, we get charts that are up to date when we buy them, and the printer makes a little money for their part in making it all possible. I really dont see a down side here. If anything maybe the charts will cost an extra buck or 2, but so what? At least that money is going to an actual business and helping the economy instead of continuing a government funded subsidy. And again, you're getting fully up to date charts. To me that alone is worth any extra money. So far I haven't actually seen any sign that they will cost more to begin with anyways.
