death of the paper chart

Scillypete

Scillypete

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www.peteandspamgosailing.blogspot.com
As a chart agent I sell quite a lot of local leisure Admiralty charts but today I am informed that they are going to withdraw the entire leisure range of charts apart from the folios
quote:
28 AUGUST 2010
UKHO Press Release
UKHO has today announced a plan to restructure its Admiralty Leisure product range which will focus its attention and investment on the two Leisure products most valued by its customers; the Admiralty Leisure folios for UK & Eire, and the ever-popular Admiralty Easy Tide web site http://easytide.ukho.gov.uk/. The other Admiralty Leisure products will be subject to a phased withdrawal from September and users of all Admiralty Leisure products will be able to find out more information and advice on our website www.admiraltyleisure.co.uk. "


Back to proper bulky paper charts I guess
 
Coaster said:
Apart from the thickness of paper, what differences are there between Leisure and Standard Admiralty charts?
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Cost for a start, then there is the ability to stow them onboard. the standard charts are considerably bulkier than the leisure edition. You may also find that retailers that are happy enough to carry a wide ranging stock of leisure charts are reluctant to stock the same range in standard charts thereby making it more difficult to obtain the charts you may require.
 
Scillypete said:
Cost for a start, then there is the ability to stow them onboard. the standard charts are considerably bulkier than the leisure edition. You may also find that retailers that are happy enough to carry a wide ranging stock of leisure charts are reluctant to stock the same range in standard charts thereby making it more difficult to obtain the charts you may require.
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Yes. They come rolled in a cardboard tube rather than folded flat and in a plastic wallet. Difficult to use and display to the public in chandlers.

Bound to happen I suppose due to lowered revenues.

Hope that Imray can carry on for a while.
 
Scillypete said:
No difference at all in detail, but functional . . . yes, you try laying out a standard chart on your chart table, they are definitely not small boat friendly
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Which is why on both the boats I have built I installed a chart table capable of taking a full admiralty chart flat. :)
 
Scillypete said:
...try laying out a standard chart on your chart table, they are definitely not small boat friendly
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I do have both leisure and standard charts on the boat but as I'm not on board I can't make direct comparisons. However I do not recall having any difficulty managing the standard charts. My full size charts are folded in half and stored in the chart table compartment, irrespective of which type. To manage them they have three parallel folds, dividing each into four panels. When in use, that enables half a chart to be visible at any time, i.e. the left hand half, the middle half or the right hand half.

Works for me.
 
Coaster said:
I do have both leisure and standard charts on the boat but as I'm not on board I can't make direct comparisons. However I do not recall having any difficulty managing the standard charts. My full size charts are folded in half and stored in the chart table compartment, irrespective of which type. To manage them they have three parallel folds, dividing each into four panels. When in use, that enables half a chart to be visible at any time, i.e. the left hand half, the middle half or the right hand half.

Works for me.
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I go along with what you say. I am old enough to have sailed various yachts in the 1950s ranging in size from a Vertue to a "prize of war" 100 square metre and all we had were standard Admiralty charts which posed no problem in either. One of the reasons for the leisure charts was to sell them to folk who couldn't be bothered to do corrections.
 
bbg said:
I assume there will still be Imray charts which, frankly, I prefer.
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I hope you are right because I also like Imray charts. However, Imray is a business and if chart sales decline to the point where there is no profit in it they'll go too.

Maybe we will end up buying charts from other countries, if available. Or even the unthinkable last resort: buying a chartplotter.;)
 
This strikes me as a non event.

The charts will still be published but only as a folio, i.e. a collection of charts for a specific area. I already buy my charts this way since they only cost about £40 whereas full sized charts for the same area would cost about £15 each, so for 15 charts it is quite a saving.

The other charts that are going are the laminated ones which were difficult to correct so buying the standard folio ones and wrapping them in plastic yourself will still achive the aim.

The corrections are published that will allow you to update the charts yourself. Full size charts from agents are required to be corrected at despatch so the agent needs to have a staff to do this (did it myself in the 70's, 100 charts or so a day to correct) so it is expensive for them.
 
Please complain about this

Bad news this.
Some of us have small boats without room for a full size chart table and even stowing the folios is a bit of a hassle.
So I have used the link on http://www.admiraltyleisure.co.uk. to send an email of complaint to them.
Copied below I doubt it will do any good but we should let them know our feeling nontheless.

" I would like to protest most strongly about your plan to withdraw the Admiralty Leisure editions of your charts.

As a small boat sailor I use these editions extensively they are convenient in size and format for storage and use on small boats and their loss will seriously affect my ability to use your chart products on my boat. I have built up an extensive coverage of Ireland, Wales & Scotland , keep them updated and replace individual charts as they become too outdated or worn.

I am sure that many retailers and chandleries feel that the Admiralty Leisure editions of your charts are of a handy format to display and stock and will be reluctant to stock the fullsize charts.

Whilst the folios are useful products they are not so easy to store (or use without folding) on a small boat and I would be reluctant to but an entire folio when one chart would suffice

I feel your decision is shortsighted in the extreme and shows that you have no real understanding of either the needs or wishes of your loyal customers and also shows a lack of consultation.."
 
Scillypete said:
As a chart agent I sell quite a lot of local leisure Admiralty charts but today I am informed that they are going to withdraw the entire leisure range of charts apart from the folios
quote:
28 AUGUST 2010
UKHO Press Release
UKHO has today announced a plan to restructure its Admiralty Leisure product range which will focus its attention and investment on the two Leisure products most valued by its customers; the Admiralty Leisure folios for UK & Eire, and the ever-popular Admiralty Easy Tide web site http://easytide.ukho.gov.uk/. The other Admiralty Leisure products will be subject to a phased withdrawal from September and users of all Admiralty Leisure products will be able to find out more information and advice on our website www.admiraltyleisure.co.uk. "


Back to proper bulky paper charts I guess
Click to expand...
Buy Imray at best!
Stu
 
I somehow feel I ought to be more worked up about this than I am.
It's a bit like when UKHO decided to stop doing Small Craft Notices to Mariners.
We could harrumph into our pink gins till the cows come home, but the bottom line is that not enough people bought them to be worth printing them.
I strongly suspect that the same is true of Leisure Editions. After all, if they were a profitable line, it's unlikely that UKHO would have stopped them.
 
dansaskip said:
Whilst the folios are useful products they are not so easy to store (or use without folding) on a small boat and I would be reluctant to but an entire folio when one chart would suffice

"
Click to expand...

The folios they talk about are Leisure Chart folios; so the chart sizes are the same.

I would suggest that you follow the original link and see the range that will be offered in the folios. Given the range of most cruising yachts they seem IMHO to be well provided for.
 
Scillypete said:
As a chart agent I sell quite a lot of local leisure Admiralty charts but today I am informed that they are going to withdraw the entire leisure range of charts apart from the folios
quote:
28 AUGUST 2010
UKHO Press Release
UKHO has today announced a plan to restructure its Admiralty Leisure product range which will focus its attention and investment on the two Leisure products most valued by its customers; the Admiralty Leisure folios for UK & Eire, and the ever-popular Admiralty Easy Tide web site http://easytide.ukho.gov.uk/. The other Admiralty Leisure products will be subject to a phased withdrawal from September and users of all Admiralty Leisure products will be able to find out more information and advice on our website www.admiraltyleisure.co.uk. "


Back to proper bulky paper charts I guess
Click to expand...

They are also withdrawing the Admiralty/Rya Chart Plotter and Tough Charts
 
Last edited:
I don't know what you're all getting worked up about. There aren't any Leisure Charts for north of Ardnamurchan.:p
 
NormanS said:
I don't know what you're all getting worked up about. There aren't any Leisure Charts for north of Ardnamurchan.:p
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Thats because you fall off the edge when you get that far away from civilisation!

The UKHO really is an incredibly badly managed business. How they can start the digital revolution with not far off a monopoly of chart production and end up as a mere data supplier to an electronic market dominated by foreign companies, I do not know. And the HO presence in data is only there because of crown copyright.

It parallels Rovers decline from a 40% share of the UK car market to nothing.
 
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