Which Navigation Program Do You Use?

[cat man do]

Cool, thanks for that Ben, i see there is no real detail as such, but there is certainly enough room there to be able to go in on a nice day and save a nice track 500m off the bricks and give yourself a nice path in to the reef edge.

If it all goes pear shaped just motor back out to the 500m off track and you'd like to think that you'd be ok.

Would I be right in assuming that Chesterfield reef area would have similar clarity, or lack of as the Swains?

And does C-map show a track or entrance into Chesterfield Laggoon itself ?

Dave

[GordMay]

There are three kinds of navigators: Those who can do math, and those who cannot.
I was the third kind, and even though I was only right 98% of the time, I never quibbled about the remaining 3%. Of course, that was a long time ago; but at the time it seemed like the present.

”If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up somewhere else.” ~ Yogi Berra

”If the terrain and the map do not agree, follow the terrain.” ~ Swedish army manual

[Pblais]

”If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up somewhere else.”

Gord you could change that and make it your own:

If you didn't know where you were going in the first place, why should you care now?

[KIWI]

I have cruised the Pacific Islands abd almost come to grief relying on a plotter, The plotter showed a clear channel just to be sure I pulled out the chart and found I was heading for a reef that was not showen on the c-map, Since then it's G.P.S. and charts.

Graham

[Pblais]

Electronic charts or paper charts are never assumed to be totally accurate. You always need to verify what you see on the chart with clues you can find from your other instruments and senses. The fact that two sources disagree leaves you no way to know which if either is correct. When two sources disagree it is more likely they both are wrong.

[KIWI]

I agree up to a point, The comment I was making is that paper charts go onto a lot more detail although I will admitt it's been almost 10 years since I stoped relying on a plotter as I sold the one I had, Went back to charts,GPS,sextant

[cat man do]

Just got back from a passage to Vanuatu.

We had a large plotter screen [17 inch] with all the chart's available for the areas we travelled, BUT in a lot of instances they were incorrect.

We quite often found areas eg Sabine shoals 1.5 miles from the pic on the screen, supposed entrances through reef had yacht's parked on them, and the entrance was quite a few hundred metres away, and we were often anchored well inland.

Plotters are a nice tool, as was radar which I found to be very handy for showing breaking water for reef entries.

But my favourite tool on the trip was DAYLIGHT and EYE'S.

Dave

[Pblais]

The quality of the chart is not related to the package it comes in or how it's presented. You'll find errors most any place. Storms can change areas that may have been accurate and other places never really were. It always pays to have a degree of doubt with any chart information and always be looking with other senses and instruments to confirm what is "supposed' to be there.

[cooper]

Do remember that most "electronic charts" come from the same surveys / data that the paper ones do. Thoses surveys (for both) could be ancient. Not correcting your gps datum as you go could be interesting. l agree with previous posts ,...if you are not familiar with the area and you are "within range" of big hard lumpy things, then sunlight and eyeballs (and even better friendy natives) are a good way to lower the stress levels.

[victorf]

I am a new member of these forums. I just voted in the "which program" poll. I am a registered user of OziExplorer The Official OziExplorer Web Site - GPS Mapping Software for Magellan, Garmin, Lowrance, Eagle, MLR Receivers for both land and nautical navigation. While this software does not offer all the bells and whistles of the "high priced spreads", I have found it more than adequate for my needs. Ozi supports quite a few map types including BSB/KAP and I use it with the Maptech BSB maps. The NOAA downloadable raster maps are BSB and probably will work with OZI as well. I cannot say for sure as I have yet to give that a try. OZI does not support vector maps.

For those who care, OZI has a published and documented API for those that wish to make their own private programs. The languages supported in the API are Visual Basic and Delphi.

Vic

[Sandero]

Speaking of charting and accuracy....

I have had experience with GPS in the Caribe which showed an island hindreds of feet from where it was supposed to be.. charting error? GPS error? Both?

Now... why doesn't some charting service use satellites and GPS and at least get the shorelines correct? We have google earth now.. this seems like a no brainer.

It wouldn't do anything for the legacy papar charts out there... but at least digital charts could have accurate shorelines and then correct paper charts could be published.

Why are we using charts in some cases which rely on surveys from the 19th century in the 21st century? How bizarre is that?

Jef
sv Shiva
Contest 36s

[Raven]

When I started running adventure travel trips along Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula back in the late 1990's, the available charts were woefully inadequate. For most of where I operated in the near-shore areas, the charts weren't even an approximation (other than to suggest that there was a coastline of sorts nearby). Having grown used to the standards of U.S. and Canadian cartography and chart production, I had to readjust. Once I settled into the reality that Mexico is not a seafaring nation with large national defense budgets or other justification for high quality charting, I set about making my own charts of the area. (My guess is that some of the best information about that coastline has been compiled through the drug trade.)

It was only in the past six months that I took a "trip" to that area aboard Google Earth. I was amazed.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Raven

... "I set about making my own charts of the area. (My guess is that some of the best information about that coastline has been compiled through the drug trade.)"...

Kevin:
I (charitably) assume that the aside was a non-sequitur.

[Raven]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Kevin:
I (charitably) assume that the aside was a non-sequitur.

Gord,
Ummm, I have no confessions to make.

Although I have to admit that it's an interesting section of coastline in that regard. Many stories to tell, but one in particular seems to sum it up.

I run sea kayaking trips on that coast. I once stopped with a group on the northern end of Ambergris Caye in Belize. It is a marine reserve and rarely visited. I was surprised to find a group of three who appeared to be squatting on the land, having cleared a section and built a cabana. They invited us to join them for lunch. Soon after we were ashore, a man emerged from the jungle to the south carrying an enormous plastic container of Ibuprofen. Curiously, I asked him, "Where did you get that? The nearest "store" is 15 miles through inpenetrable jungle to San Pedro."

The man turned to the sea and opened both arms wide. "Out here," he told me, "this is your store. Anything you want washes up if you wait long enough."

Next, they asked if they could borrow a snorkel mask so that they could recover a couple of kilos of cocaine that they'd buried in the silt 50 feet off the shore (to hide it from the patrol that had come through earlier).

They seemed to have quite the business going, just waiting for the "product" to float in. They told me, "When we get rich, we're going to come to your country to spend our money."

My next time through, there were no signs of them except the remains of the cabana.

Just part of the adventure . . .

[SandyM]

Hi. I'm new to these waters as well. Currently trying to turn the world on its head, or at least flip the chart table, with a "digboat" programme,from down under, up top being the Scotland. I currently use a raster chart Admiralty/RYA chart plotter programme which up till this year only catered for those sailing south of Ardnamurchan. I want to upgrade to a vector based plotter and would like to get my hands on some c-map charts without spending megabucks. Someone mentioned a Russian version?