Are almanacs actually worth having?

shmoo

shmoo

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Every year, or every other in case of CA one, I dutifully buy phone book sized almanacs. Tried loose leaf - fell apart due to being repeatedly trodden on.

Since I have most information in other*, in some cases more "primary" forms, and almanacs seem to change little, should I shell out again this year?


*eg pilots, sailing directions, harbor "welcome" leaflets, wxTide, MCA wx shedules etc...
 
We like the loose leaf ones as you can take the relevant habour's page out and put it in a plastic wallet in the cockpit as you come into the habour.

However, we haven't got the 08 updates for our 07 almanac. I suspect 95% of the changes are the tide times (which I will download for Dover and work from there).

Jonny
 
We've wondered that too. An up-to-date almanac is useful when sailing in unfamiliar waters, but, apart from that, I can't recall seeking any info from an almanac (CA and/or Reeds' west coast) that was unique to the very latest edition. Buoys change from time to time, but I'd thought that most sailors could cope with that (our charts are, errrmm, more or less uncorrected too....).

This year, we've not bothered with the almanac, but have invested £2.50 or thereabouts in the fishermen's tidal pocketbook (for Scotland).

If we feel the need for a new almanac, I'll let you know.
 
In the solent.. nope.. but every boat seems to display them lol.....

In the real world, ONLY if you want to travel around a bit...

Never bother updating charts (PitA!)... just use up to date pilot guides and almanac.
Approaching LC we were only really guided by reeds.. the rest was out of date..

so, for us.. a necessity.. for others.. well, its better to buy a local streetmap than a world atlas if you intend to only drive in a local area.. better detail.. et al..

And of course, the plotter and navionics charts.. BUT.. only the reeds seems to be really up to date.. ifs it looks different, I simply turn around and go back out.. try another haven.
 
Do you download the updates and keep the almanac correct?

Last year for the 1st time I downloaded each months update and was amazed at the shear volume of them (our boat goes out on charter). Even ignoring the most Southerly/Northerly ones - for the Solent last year there was amendments to the buoyage of Poole Harbour and entrance to Portsmouth Harbour. Reeds publish these updates every month until (I think) July then sweep up all the changed into next years Almanac that is published in September.

To answer you question you have to consider the cost of an up to date Almanac (cheapest £25) to the risk of the consequence of a change that may seriously affect you.

You may find it useful to keep last years at home/office with the copy of the most relevant tide table for this year so that you can do passage planning off the boat.
 
Thats exactly what I do..... along with WXtide on my PC and expired/replaced charts.... then all do the large majority of my passage planning at home.... and also use laptop to create waypoints for plotter and 2mins when on board to download them.... OK, the charts might be slightly out of date... but I have the current ones on board.....
 
A lot depends on what you are sailing where, I haven't bought an almanac for years, Local port information comes from the local pilot book written by locals, I have good tidal information, charts and can access the local N to Ms which gives me any important navigational information and my gps gives me local sunset and sunrise data.

If I was verturing further I would of course obtain the best data on the waters I was going to be sailing in. When I have sailed elswhere I have always obtained the best local info whether it be borrowd from the library or purchased.

Like everything else it is a matter of judgement on what is actually needed to sail safely, and one needs to draw up a check list iof the information you need and then decide which way you intend to aquire that data
 
I buy one about every 3 years, each time a different one.
I liked the Reeds loose leaf as I could take the page out and put it into a plastic cover for use.
My favorite is the French BLOC Marine, covers the UK side of the channel, a good chart section of the French coast and all the port info in English.

As with you, use WXTide, chart plotter and Inet for tides.
 
I get one every year in the fond hope that I will get value for money for it, by using the boat more/going further afield. I get my parents to buy it as a Birthday present, so it saves them buying me something I don't want!
Its days must be numbered in this interweb age, but I'm told that some people still buy printed newspapers!
 
If I was still sailing in the cold waters of the Channel I would use Bloc Marine best value for money almanac I have seen.The French coastal charts are an added bonus and at about £14 it is very good value.OK so it is French !!
But The text is also in English
 
And where can I get this Bloc Marine almanac? Google seems to return a Reeds Western Med. product - presumably this isn't what you're referring to?

Cheers

Mark
 
http://www.blocmarine.com/acheter_css.html
couvBMatl.jpg
 
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