Paper Charts

[sailaway78]

First off, just so I don't get blasted, I have paper charts, dividers, compass and all the other necessary navigation tools aboard. Know how to use them and don't leave home without them. But I find I use them less and less these days. In trip planning and on route navigation, I find it much easier to use the lap top and chartplotter, than the paper. Maybe I'm just lazy, but it is much easier to use the laptop for trip planning, as well the chartplotter for en route navigation. I use Garmin blue charts, and have all the necessary charts loaded in my laptop. It's just so easy to plan on the laptop, which will give me my basic course, distance, water depths etc. with a couple of mouse clicks. Much easier than going through several paper charts, measuring the distance, plotting the course and all that. Am I just overly lazy, or do others find the ease of modern electronics taking over more and more of the navigation process. This is ask out of curiosity, and I have no beef with any way you want to do it.

 

[Capt. Ed]

backup

I love the electronics as well ,but like you have a paper backup . There have been two times when the GPS went haywire ,sense we local not a problem . Iam asked to teach people how to us the GPS systems ,my reply once you learn how to use a paper chart . There are so many things you can do with the GPS .I love the proximity alarm system . When you are inattentive to a shoal area it will let you know . Retracing you course it neet to . Comparing your smg to boat speed you can figure current too.

 

[George]

I operate pretty much the same way you do. I do all my pre-trip planning using the computer and Blue Charts. When in strange waters, I'll usually print out waypoint and route info. and it to the paper charts. I use the GPS to monitor progress. When in strange waters I periodically mark my progress on the paper chart in the event my electronic stuff craps out.

 

[Ross]

I think that trip planning by one the electronic charts are

great. But for discussion of a planned trip, paper spread out on the table is much more inclusive. Nancy and I are always amused when we set a course and make our mark and happen to look at the GPS and find it indicating the buoy right where we have just seen it. We tend to get distracted with precision but about the closest you can plot your position is the width of a pencil mark and that is about 50 feet on most paper charts or 0.05 minutes lat or lon.

 

[Alex]

Charts, backup of backup

I used to have paper sharts. I can navigate with it but not fun. Still have them onboard but haven't been used for a long time.I had a Garmin GPS but now it is just a backup.Now I use a Laptop with GPS straped in the cabin with a 10" monitor with touch screen on the binnacle as a chart plotter.My theory: if the PC fail, I have the GPS (with batteries) for backup. If both fail (someone must not like me) then I can get to the charts. Beyond that let the wind carry you.

 

[sailaway78]

A point in Ross's post

Ross made a good point, in that a pencil mark on a chart is in the neighborhood of 50 feet. My chartplotter has a function that tells how accurate the fix is. Mine normally shows accurate to within 8 feet. If I put a waypoint in for a bouy, for instance a farewell bouy when coming in, lots of times if I don't deviate slightly from the GPS course, will actually hit the bouy.

 

[Chris Connor]

Chart horizontal Datums

Hello All,Another point to consider when using GPS and paper and or electronic charts is to ensure that the geoidal datum that you are using for positioning in the GPS matches the datum of your chart. If not, you should know and apply the correction to the position output on the GPS before plotting.I know that the hydrographic services have been busy converting their charts over from original survey datums to WGS 84 (sometimes NAD83 in Canada).In the mid to late 1990's in Newfoundland, we were using charts that had datums from four different surveys some of which dated back to the 1800's! I have conned large vessels over small islands (if you believed the early raster moving maps).This may not be a problem in the mainland USA but could cause problems in other geographic areas. Certainly, it's still a consideration in parts of Canada.In short - the GPS position can be too accurate for survey scale of the paper chart.On my sailboat, I use a laptop to do my voyage planning and then download by memory card to the Raymarine plotter. I have a back-up handheld GPS with marine charts from Garmin and various small scale charts for my area of operations.I am belt and braces - I double check the positioning with observed positions when possible.Regards,Chris

 

[John]

taking class

My wife and I are presently taking a class by the Coast Guard Auxiliary on coastal navigation. At this point, my abilities to use a GPS are at about the same level as my navigational abilities. I know that part of knowing how to use a GPS is simply knowing the technology, but I get the feeling that this class will be a basic building block to really understanding the GPs also. (I'm also finding it very interesting.)

 

[Ross]

There is often a warning concerning the use of published

positions of navaids. Using them as waypoints without some effort to be sure that you miss them can be deadly. There have been reports of people programing their auto pilots with navaids lats and lons as waypoints and running them down.

 

[Capt. Ed]

You are right Ross

Using navaids for way points can be deadly . It happened in Beverly 2 years ago. A group of people heading back from Eastern Point placed the boat on auto pilot and continued the party . When they got to #13 Wham they hit it . Lucky for them one of Salem's harbormasters was patrolling and rendered assistance . Several injuries and a totaled boat .

 

[Ross]

Ed , I think that some people lose sight of how much room there is

out there. My boat is 9 feet wide and 30 feet long, it doesn't need a lot of room. So shifting a way point by .02 minutes will give 120 feet of missing room and that is still too close for my comfort.

 

[Paul Akers]

I Still Use the Charts...

...to plot the course and to document it on paper. I will use my chart ploter to add the waypoints and their names to my course list.

 

[TimCup]

maybe a money issue?

In this month's (Feb 08) Sail mag, there's an article about a solo circumnavigator that carries NO paper charts. Even the article admits it sounds sacreligious. I'm thinking that if you can spend months or years circling the globe as sailboat speed, then you're probably not worried about your checks clearing the bank. He has all electronics, with multiple redundencies. These times, they are a-changin... I guess I'll do it the old fashioned way, at least until The state sends my lottery winnings. Fair winds.TimCup

 

[Ross]

I once read about a sailor that made an East-West

north atlantic crossing without a compass or any other navigation instruments. He said that he just followed the contrails.But on the subject of charts for long distance voyageing you need only a small scale chart of each ocean and a large scale chart of each planned landfall. If you don't plan to visit Somalia then you won't need any charts for that country. I don't think that it is a mistake to carry a sextant on any boat that leave the sight of land. If you sail fifty miles off shore and get caught in a storm, when the storm clears you must be able to determine you latitude. You know which way to steer to reach land but without knowing you latitude you can't know where you harbor is.

 

[Dennis W.]

Autopilots and a proper watch

What ever happened to the requirement to keep a proper watch? I carry a fixed gps/plotter, a handheld gps backup, full sized NOAA charts, and chartbooks. But all this still requires a proper watch. Connecting your autopilot to your gps so that you don't have to pay attention is just foolish!Dennis W.S/V FullSailedps: How often can you actually sail to a waypoint?

 

[Ross]

DennisW, one of my favorite GPS inquires involves my slip

The slip is waypoint # 1. There is a place call Garret Island just west of the Marina. Goto on the GPS will give me a course right across the island and tell me that it is a half mile.

 

[KorculaChris]

I use paper

with a handheld GPSMap 76C for position. Plan on paper, then put in waypoints on GPS (either direct or through laptop at home and upload to GPS). Once on the trip, the GPS tells me where I am and when to turn on each waypoint. I mark off progress and fixes as I go on the paper chart.Works for me!

 

[Paul Akers]

But in the Fog...

...I use my Radar. And with a good fix on the GPS, using my radar is still important. But it'd still great coming in on a mark that I can only see up close in a fog.

 

[sailaway78]

Another good point

A very good point from Paul, which I didn't think about at the time I posted this. In this area, especially after Katrina, we had tons of markers that had their lights out completely, or were even worse, just gone. I know my area well enough to navigate without any aids most of the time, but in a heavy fog, or a very dark night, no one can navigate when they can't see anything. You might be able to run a good compass course, but if you have a change of direction, no markers or anything to identify that point, the compass then becomes basically worthless. The chartplotter, on more than one occasion has made the difference between getting where I wanted to go, and having to just drop anchor and wait for some visibility.