Trip Planning Software

[LeslieTroyer]

I am currently using Navionics - and transferring waypoints to the Raymarine chart plotter. But I'm not happy with the planning aspects. what I want is listed below

1) dock to dock routing
2) able to set start time
3) take current tables into consideration when calculating (speed/time)
4) Avoid route (ie avoid Deception Pass)
5) Warn/Avoid currents > some entered value (ie don't go thru Dodd with 8knts of current even if in direction of travel)
6) specify minimum draft
7) specify nominal speed

I can do a lot of this with Navionics - the big thing is Current and routes to avoid.
iOS, Android, Windows or OSX - I'm very open to the platform.

All suggestions welcome.

Thanks
Les

 

[jssailem]

Not free, but I really like Coastal Explorer, by RosePoint. A NW company that I think has put the features in their software you are requesting.

I can enter point to point then adjust route miss the rocky bits. Once happy it allows a start time or finish time and calculates the route beginning time or ending time based on currents and entered average speed. It then allows you to branch and compare routes all on a laptop (PC) based structure. Check it out.
Not sure about uploading to Raymarine MFD.

 

[LeslieTroyer]

Pricy at >$300. I may try the trial for our upcoming Roche adventure

 

[jssailem]

We can match up our routes and see what approach makes sense. I have not avoided Deception Pass if the timing is ok. Also I have transited the ditch when currents are favorable. I am checking about a route via Admiralty Inlet (past Port Townsend) which would favor Mosquito Passage. Never been that route. At present the shortest looks like Deception and Mosquito passages look to be shortest route. Just not sure about currents. If the wind is favorable a run across the Juan D'Fuca could be sporty. So many options. Right now there is 4 inches of snow outside my house. Melting but still it gives one pause....

 

[Jackdaw]

You're starting to expect a lot of functionality from cheap app software. Those capabilies are going to cost you. As an alternative, you could do them on paper.

 

[jssailem]

I still use paper... Kind of like trust but verify. Or maybe just Old School...

 

[LeslieTroyer]

when I was first starting out in embedded computer programming (some time ago) - the then accepted method was paper coding sheets and manual entry for the op codes (binary and symbolic) and calculating offsets (hexadecimal or octal arithmetic). I bucked the trend back then and used only symbolic representation and a thing called a compiler - I doubt now you'll find anyone who still uses organic-compilers, too slow and too error prone.

Somehow I feel the same on this score - there are just tooo many variables. I can see doing the plan once - but what if I want to see what happens if I leave an hour earlier, or later, change from going south first, or north to deception or the ditch -- If I go north what is the latest I can hit deception and still make it thru.

Half way thru this trip the currents flip - so if going south first - you want to be on the ebb, and hit slack at Pt. Townsend, so you can ride the flood into the islands. do it backwards and your trip suddenly becomes 2-3x longer or you may get stuck wait hours for the current to go slack. Current varies along the route (even at the same time) as the passages widen and neck down, so you would probably have to break the hand calculation in ~20 or more phases... Could I do it ?? Yes - do I want to NO.

My current best guess on the trip mentioned above is to leave at about 5am, and go south around Whidby Is. That or leave the night before and pickup a mooring ball at Hope Island, and sleep in a bit the next day.

I don't mind dropping 100-200 on software - but 370 seems pricy.

 

[Mark Maulden]

I've always found it better to plan slack at Smith Is instead of Townsend..

 

[LeslieTroyer]

Agreed, but that is a compromise with early start

 

[jssailem]

I like Smith Island as well for the tide plan. My purchase was from MillTech in Port Orchard WA.
Found them to be good people with competitive prices.
Beside the ability to do what if planning (What if I leave at 6AM vs 3AM, when will I arrive?) They also help with the routing in that once you have laid in a route, you can follow the route and read about all the charted hazards along the way and just how close you planned to go by them. You can make adjustments and watch the warning disappear. Charts are both Raster and Vector. With Internet you can see google satellite images or even hybrid map with raster water and satellite land.
Another motivator for me was the software integrates with my Vesper AIS system.
Help from RosePoint has been great. They are planning to put out an upgrade version. Think it is coming out this year. Might be worth a check to know how they plan to support new purchasers of the current version. That is always an issue for software.

 

[jssailem]

I just ran a route from Everett to Roche Harbor via Admiralty Inlet and Mosquito Passage. Got a distance of 65.8NM and at 6 knots it would be about 11 Hours. Leaving on May 4th the suggested best departure time was 06:28. It would be a long day but we would leave at daybreak and arrive before dark. It could be broken into two days with a stop in Port Townsend.

Going up the Saratoga Passage thru Anacortes is about 75nm. This route would be better to passage over 2 days.

Weather and updates on currents would have to wait till May.

 

[LeslieTroyer]

with current we should be able to beat the 6 knots. Downloading the maps for the trial version now..

 

[Stu Jackson]

So many options. Right now there is 4 inches of snow outside my house. Melting but still it gives one pause....

I'm really enjoying this discussion. Snow every other day for the past few days. Sudden snowstorm around noon today, sun out now and a sailboat sailing up Satellite Channel - ain't me!

Tell me I'm not in the Yukon! Pleeeze.

Familiarizing myself with Canadian chart booklet 3313. Gulf Islands first then the San Juans.

Currents are pretty predictable, wind and weather not so much. What's new, Doc?

 

[Mark Maulden]

Spring..two weeks!! This has not been a "normal" winter..

 

[salishmermaid]

I use ActiveCaptain to do my route planning, it does have some avoidance information in the live map, but I mainly use it to create a measured path to get a more accurate distance for the route or Lat and Lon information for locations. I enter the route manually in my Raymarine Chart Plotter because I can't find a way to import the xml path I created in ActiveCaptain . You can do similar routing in Google Maps but I prefer the ActiveCaptain .

For Tides and Currents I use DeepZoom it works well on your computer or smart phone. I use an excel spreadsheet to help plan my start times to help estimate ETA's for places like Deception Pass or Cattle Pass where timing the currents are necessary, but you can also use the chart plotter route to do the same thing once you have entered the route.

Raymarine has some software that would allow you to export to a CF card and import your route to your chart plotter and looks like it might work okay for planning, but I have not purchased or used them since I got comfortable planning my trips using the method described above.

 

[LeslieTroyer]

John - I tried Costal Explorer with 2 Everett->Roche routes (admiralty and deception)- starting now - then adjusted the start time in 2 hour increments for 8 hours - each route kept the estimated duration - so it doesn't look like it takes current into account. I sent an email to their support like asking about this - let you know...

 

[jssailem]

Love the concern Stu. I woke and we had 4 inches of snow in the valley. We are 400 ft above sea level. Last time we have seen this weather was 1970. I think your voayage form SF may have upset the balance.
Mark, the Ground hag saw it's shadow. Doesn't that mean 6 more months of winter?
Les, What would be fun is to have a nice 15 knot breeze from the SW. We get to Port Townsend and its a Beam reach across the Strait ( I think it is about 25 miles) to the opening of Mosquito Pass.

 

[LeslieTroyer]

Salish - Ray marine wants it's routes to be in fsh format - you can use GPSBabel to convert most programs export format into fsh (or other) for import into your Raymarine. Navionics connects directly and allows you to sync via wireless.

 

[LeslieTroyer]

Stu - looking forward to meeting you at the Catalina Rendezvous - John & I will probably travel together from Everett....

Les

 

[jssailem]

Ok. Using the Admiralty Inlet route and leaving at the suggested 6:30 AM departure, we arrive at Admiralty Inlet about 11:30. The current has just changed and Ebb is on the way. THis will carry us mostly across the Strait and get us to the Mosquito passage before dark and as the ebb is turning to slack about 4:30 PM.
I looked at the "Conditions" tab. Looked at the tidal information for the 4th of May, and then examined the choke points moving the time forward and back to see what is happening at these places with the currents.