How do you use your chart plotter?

[nicho]

You mean you rely on electronic wizardry in IMC conditions. Tut tut, you'll have made Wilbur and Orville Wright turn in their graves!

In IMC or IFR conditions, you are likely to be under the control of Air Traffic, who tell you where and when to go....and you need to be accurate, +/- 50'. If you have no IMC or Instrument Rating, you'd best keep out of IMC conditions, or it's possible, nay likely, to become spatially disorientated and lose control of the aircraft. But I get the impression you already know that. I doubt very much, by the way, that the Wright Brothers ever flew in IMC conditions!!

 

[nicho]

And this sort of post is why us Marco Polo's despair. A plotter can make an awkward task a hell of a lot easier but I can think of nothing simpler than a night channel passage. Radar would certainly help in shipping lanes, a phone GPS would be great in poor vis but a plotter adds little that is necessary. Very nice, though.

In fixed rocky channels in waters with charts that accurately match GPS positions a plotter can certainly be very reassuring but the CIs have some of the biggest and best fixed markers of anywhere in the world. Hard to get lost there except in vis so poor I would not go into a narrow channel for fear of hitting somebody coming the other way.

I think you have just confirmed my argument!

 

[Giblets]

I do find it frustrating that none of the plotters or PC navigation packages have the (not hard to programme I reckon) facility to draw tidal vectors on screen. On the rare occasions it might matter I'd draw it up on paper (plain even, it doesn't have to be drawn on a chart)

Neptune Planner Plus does.

 

[jonjo]

Personally I wouldn't do it that way, Braye can seem very far away should you accidentally find yourself downwind and downtide of the island, even by ten or so miles to the NE.

I think the converse is true. The bookworm chart table navigator is more likely to get into this situation because of a fixation with waypoints and a schedule determined before departure.

My navigation is dynamic, done from the helm with a small 4" plotter just a handspan away from the wheel. If I am going to miss a tidal gate I will reassess mid channel and recompute for Bray Harbour, if I was going to face 2 hours of adverse tide I would be heading to tuck in along the SW coast of Alderney where a useful early counter current develops inshore.

 

[Wandering Star]

My Chartplotter, AIS and autopilot are fully integrated so after I've input the relevant waypoints and pressed "GO", there's nothing more for me to do than snuggle down in my sleeping bag. My experience is that if my AIS alarm doesn't ping, other traffic will generally give me a toot as they pass in anycase so I know they're aware of me, the sound of the keel running through sand alerts me to my arrival. If I've used a set of marina coordinates (lifted out of Reeds) as my waypoint, the Marina staff have even be known to have me fendered up and secured before I need to put the kettle on.

 

[dunedin]

My Chartplotter, AIS and autopilot are fully integrated so after I've input the relevant waypoints and pressed "GO", there's nothing more for me to do than snuggle down in my sleeping bag. My experience is that if my AIS alarm doesn't ping, other traffic will generally give me a toot as they pass in anycase so I know they're aware of me, the sound of the keel running through sand alerts me to my arrival. If I've used a set of marina coordinates (lifted out of Reeds) as my waypoint, the Marina staff have even be known to have me fendered up and secured before I need to put the kettle on.

Sounds perfect. Don't forget the motoring cone though

 

[JumbleDuck]

Worth remembering that some people sailed around the Channel and the Islands before plotters were invented!. We coped....

Perhaps slightly different types of people.

 

[capnsensible]

Perhaps slightly different types of people.

Yeah, nails, us.

 

[Bru]

Neptune Planner Plus does.

Useful to know, I shall have to save up the pennies!

 

[dom]

I doubt very much, by the way, that the Wright Brothers ever flew in IMC conditions!!

Actually I think your flying analogy is a good one. As you say apart from the CI fog, one can get a curious haze on the Channel where vis is not too bad but where the horizon deceives you. There's no denying the fun of whipping an agile plane around on a fine day, flying by the seat of your pants as they say. But when the weather closes in one needs the instruments, a detailed flight plan, proper knowledge, and so on. If your point is that something similar applies to sailboats then I agree with you.

And that does not mean that I don't personally like to use a sextant sometimes, noon sights are even fun on the ocean if you're bored. But when approaching the CIs in inclement conditions I'll join you in switching on the appropriate gear and doing the appropriate calcs, whether I'm on the water or a few thousand feet above it!

 

[tudorsailor]

All of this is very different in the Adriatic. There are hundreds of islands that look identical. Checking on the plotter that you are headed to the right one with the plotter makes sense. There are quite a lot of rocks that do not have lights or marks. They are not shown on the larger scale cruising charts but do show on the plotter as you zoom in. Some passages between islands are narrow and very shallow. It is helpful to know you are over the deepest charted route as you wriggle through

I love having a plotter. But I still plan my route from the chart. I still mark my position on the paper chart every hour.

With Navionics on my phone and OpenCPN on the laptop I have lots of back up.

TS

 

[JumbleDuck]

But I get the impression you already know that. I doubt very much, by the way, that the Wright Brothers ever flew in IMC conditions!!

I am told that RFC pilots in WW1 regularly flew in cloud, though it was later discovered to be impossible. It's amazing what you can do if you don't know you can't.

On a tangential note, does an IMC rating let you do stuff under ATC? I thought it only covered a bit of uncontrolled cloud flying in Cat D/E, but it's a long time since I flew and the things I flew could go into cloud more or less whenever they wanted.

 

[roblpm]

Being fairly new to all this navigation stuff I went through my day Skipper theory plotting course to steer etc. Then I got on my ds practical, plotted a course to steer and pointed out to the tutor that that was exactly where the wind was coming from! So I don't really understand the point of all of it! Its all very well plotting a course because of the tides but I am in to sailing, not motoring in a straight line??!!

 

[Tintin]

Being fairly new to all this navigation stuff I went through my day Skipper theory plotting course to steer etc. Then I got on my ds practical, plotted a course to steer and pointed out to the tutor that that was exactly where the wind was coming from! So I don't really understand the point of all of it! Its all very well plotting a course because of the tides but I am in to sailing, not motoring in a straight line??!!

You will one day once you've done some sailing.

 

[Uricanejack]

I don’t have one. Quite happy without one. Other things are much higher up my wish list.

Sometimes I navigate like you. Sometimes I take it more seriously.
Depends where I am where I’m going. And who is coming with me.
Most of the time I know where I am, more importantly where I’m not, I know where the rocks are and I go round em. Sometimes I figure out the tide, sometimes I know what it was yesterday so good enough.

When I leave my comfort zone, I got the charts the books and knows how to use em. I much prefer a chart over a screen. A pencil and rule over a mouse and a real book to read. Yes I’m over 50.

I have considered getting a pad thingy with a chart App. Just because the No of charts I need for whole coast is so large. Portability is a virtue. I do have blackberry pad(it was cheep) I read books on it when traveling (I travel a lot for work)but it just isn’t the same as a real book.

For me when I am going into somewhere new, I like to have an old chart folded up with a stain or two (some are even mouldy) with me in the cock pit. If I don’t have a suitably old musty chart. I have my note book on which I scribble a rough diagram from my decent chart on the table.

 

[Uricanejack]

I am told that RFC pilots in WW1 regularly flew in cloud, though it was later discovered to be impossible. It's amazing what you can do if you don't know you can't.

On a tangential note, does an IMC rating let you do stuff under ATC? I thought it only covered a bit of uncontrolled cloud flying in Cat D/E, but it's a long time since I flew and the things I flew could go into cloud more or less whenever they wanted.

The old RFC may have been bold pioneres but they werent daft. I'm only a PPL and don't know how to fly without VFR. But If I had the Red Barron on my ass. The risks of flying in a cloud would probably seem pretty good.

 

[Elessar]

I tend to be a seat of my pants navigator who would never pass an RYA exam. As a result I sometimes wander into danger but have an instinct for recognizing danger and digging myself out of such a situation.

Having read posts in the other plotter thread it occurs to me that I do not use mine the same way e.g. sail between waypoints researched before departure, instead I head off on a passage with a belief that I know how to get from A to B using the English Channel chart lodged in my brain. The plotter is just there for reassurance.

For example if heading to St Peter Port from Gosport this is how I would navigate:

1. With zero preparation leave when I am ready probably sometime in the afternoon with an expectation of a night at sea.
2. Through prior observation I will have an idea of when I will not have to punch the tide at the Portsmouth harbour entrance.
3. Once outside the harbour entrance while at the helm I will zoom to a tidal diamond near Yarmouth to see when the Hurst tide turns east and do a quick mental calculation to see if I can scoot down the Solent before the tide turns, if not I will head out east around the IOW.
4. Mental pilotage will get me to Ventnor, I might sneak a view at the plotter screen to be reminded of offlying dangers near Culver Cliff.
5. From memory I know I can scrape past Ventnor fairly close.

And now onto the crossing.

1. I will steer for a middling point in the Race after scrolling the plotter to the Race.
2. After observing boat speed I will estimate time to the Race in my head.
3. I will then find a tidal diamond on the screen 10 miles north of Cap De La Hague and estimate east/west offset by totting up the net offset for the final 3 hours approaching the Race.
4. Mentally plotting that offset on the screen I will then adjust the helm to head for that point by watching the plotter course prediction line move on the chart zoomed to the Race.

Job done, enable the autopilot and time to open a beer.

Six hours later I will repeat the last 4 steps above minus the beer.

Pretty much what I do in familiar waters. Though I plonk a waypoint in and use the track feature to allow for the tide.
But if crossing the channel and definately if playing round with the race i will do a proper CtS on paper.
Answer to "what if the screen breaks". I use a chart. But they are my backup only.

 

[Storyline]

Have said before on another thread that us more mature sailors are very lucky to have sailed in the days before cheap electronic nav aids. The very first trip we did had Ireland as the destination. The first stop on the way was Port St Mary on the IoM. We found that easily as the vis was so good we could see the island from miles away. The following day was overcast with less than 5 miles vis. Planned a course allowing for tides and eventually saw land which we reckoned must be the Mountains of Mourne. In actual fact they weren't and we ended up 10 miles or so south of where we thought we were. Extremely satisfying though even though we were a bit out. The only nav aid we had was an ancient RDS set which came in handy in fog a week or so later.
Now, our modus operandi is to get out the paper charts of the area we are sailing in, cast off, turn plotter on, set up route on plotter which gives us an ETA and then we use that to work out how much time we can spend sailing if there is little wind just so we can arrive at a civilised hour for drinks ie before 19:00.

 

[LadyInBed]

If I don’t have a suitably old musty chart. I have my note book on which I scribble a rough diagram from my decent chart on the table.

You could also take a picture of part of chart, with tablet

 

[capnsensible]

I take a tablet every day to ward off the effects of gout. Don't think I can take a picture with one, I normally just swallow the tablet with some water.