OpenCPN Passage Simulation

[sinbad7]

In my cruising days while living in Norway,long before I heard of OpenCPN,I was an avid user of Fugawi Navigator.

Fugawi Navigator had a nifty extra simulator option to test your planned route. Just load up the route,select the starting point,boat speed and hit the start button.

I remember that winter I was planning a fairly ambitious trip from Kristiansand,South Norway across the Skaggerak to Skagen and down the Danish East coast to Holtenau,the Eastern entrance to the Kiel ship canal ending up at Brunsbuttel at the Western end and proceeded down the Elbe estuary and into the North Sea heading for the Thames River.

The trip was taking longer than expected and we turned around by the Friesian island of Borkum having visited several of the other islands en route.

I was running the simulator over and over,each time with a slight route change and by the time I was doing the REAL thing,I knew every lighthouse and buoy.

This would be a great feature for OpenCPN,perhaps as a plug-in,as not to overload the program.

Any of our programing heroes feel up to it?

Tore