Admiralty v SHOM

[JamesS]

We expect to be spending a lor more time in France next year so I wil need to buy some new charts at the best price.

What is the view, buy Admiralty or Stanfords over here or wait and buy SHOM over there?

Thanks in advance.

 

[colin_jones]

I suggest that you 'hold your horses' for a couple of months.

In essence, there is now such a comprehensive exchange of info between all hydrographers that the basic elements of cartography are similar for all 3 chart suppliers you mention (all 3 excellent, by the way) but there are differences in details of paper quality, chartlets, tidal flow info etc between them. Some charts are better than others for close navigation and others are best for passage making.

The March edition of PBO (pub mid Feb) will have a major piece on just this subject and the questions you raise. It will also carry more detailed news about the alterations to the traffic separation scheme off Ushant, which is due to come into operation on 1st May 2003, plus a super way of correcting your charts without resorting to pen, ink, magnifying glass and irritation.

There will also be intial coverage of the new separation zone changes in the Feb issue of PBO.

 

[Gunfleet]

Whatever you do get yourself a French almanac (Votre livre du bord). It's much cheaper than an English one, a lot of it is written in English and - once you get used to the French system for tidal calculations - very simple to use. It's a great bargain. It also has a picture in it with all the parts of a boat named in French. Dead handy for those vocabulary stretching trips to the chandlery. Trust me, no matter how good you think your French is, there will be some parts of a boat you can't name in French.