Fake charts: really a safety risk, or just a copyright issue?

[Birdseye]

Might I suggest to you, and those others who "navigate" without the benefit of charted information, that you head out through the Sound of Harris, and then turn down to the Monachs. Could be challenging.

Ah! Yes, eyeball. I used to know someone who navigated on the "See Water" principle. Unfortunately he had some mishaps with rocks, which were lurking under the surface.

Yes but in a way thats the point. Very few of us navigate anywhere near the sound of harris . Most UK sailing is done marina to marina on the south coast of england or in well travelled waters on the east coast and mainland scotland..

But the issue here is that of "forged " charts and the inaccuracies pointed out by antacrtic pilot. I am sure he is right in principle though I do know that a lot of admiralty charts used to be photocopied on full sized copiers in Spain. But the question is how relevant to the average yottie are the likely errors and distortions that he highlights , and I reckon they dont matter that much. Firstly because the average yottie at least as I know him doesnt update his paper charts or his chart plotter so Pilots argument about forged chart dates goes out of the window. The second reason is that the way most of us use our boats and most of us navigate does not rely on peering at the finest admiralty chart data with a magifying glass. To the contrary, we tend to be out in the open water away from any likely hazard except at both ends of the journey when its a well buoyed channel. Of course there are exceptions, but the level of marine accidents suggests that widespread use of out of date charts and maybe forged charts isnt really a problem.