I fairly much agree with you sirgallivant but not so vehemently.

On yachts it is probably not failure of the electronic charting device itself that would be the problem but more likely a failure in the yacht's general electrical system or a voltage spike that would cause the problem.

I really quite enjoy navigating with my eyeballs and confirming it on a paper chart. It all gets entered into the best navigation computer there is. Your brain.

When a seaman has been working an area long enough he will not need navigation aids even in the blackest of nights as he knows where he is instinctively.

Not saying I am anything like that but I have met seamen who are.

I think it is fair and reasonable that a vessel be required to carry paper charts of the area being worked. So for those that are perplexed by carrying charts that they may only use once for a passage, the solution is Quick Charts (for Australian coastal passages).

The charts in the program are Aus Hydro Service raster charts (scanned paper charts) and the program is excellent for passage planning in that one can print off "strip maps" of the passage with rhumb lines and way points on them.

The program with charts for the whole of Australia is a fraction of the cost of buying full size charts and it is quite feasible to plot a position on the "strip maps".

HaveFun used it to plan our passage from Lake Macquarie to Bundaberg and it was invaluable.

sirgallivant said..
You always been a sensible chap, cisco, from the day you visited the boat yard in Moolloolabah...

I wholly agree with you except one point.
l was thought, while you are in sight of land, you are not navigating but piloting.

Now you have got me. When was that and what was the occasion????

sirgallivant said..
Two years back, the 28 Adams for sale at Lowries Boat yard...

Sweet little boat