North up or course up?

[iLens]

If you're navigating, North Up is the only way to go. The alternative is that your course to date, buoys and landmarks around you, and your destination all swing around you when you tack, and that denies you any possibility of understanding the course you're on.

However when superimposing radar (or AIS, say crossing lanes at night) onto the chartplotter I do find course-up helpful. I guess the reason is that then, what you're worrying about is the position and movement of the boats around you relative to you and it's more important to be able to relate them quickly to their relative bearing and distance from you.

Similarly, I find that occasionally if, say, I'm piloting say into a bendy harbour at night, it can be helpful to use course-up mode, for the same reason.

I'm with Belle Serene - North-up on passage, course-up in strange, twisty harbours/rivers etc or with the radar.

 

[Babylon]

Its really depends on whether one's in a navigational or pilotage situation.

Compared to helming a relatively very slow-moving boat on a great expanse of water, in a car one is normally dealing with rapidly-changing high-speed pilotage (along with almost constant collision-avoidance of static and moving objects). As the Sat-Nav screen is small and cannot be safely glanced at for longer than a brief moment each time, the safest and most effective option is zoomed-in Course-Up, with a visual note at the top (or a voice instruction) advising you of the distance to and action coming up.

The problem with this however, is that one can drive the entire length or breadth of England without having the slightest idea of where one actually is or in which direction one is moving! (i.e. one's 'situational-awareness' is highly zoomed-in). Only by switching to North-Up mode and zooming out can the bigger picture clearly be grasped.

For me the most sensible option on a boat is North-Up, as the default situation is mostly navigational (where even though your heading might be changing the wind and tide-direction aren't!) and, even when in pilotage situations, the timescales are very ponderous compared to being in a car. If you do wish to replicate the rolling-road sketch (which you were taught to do when preparing a traditional pilotage plan), then you can easily switch into Course-Up mode just for this element of the passage.

So its a question of becoming familiar with doing BOTH in each case: usually North-Up on a boat and Course-Up in a car, with the opposite in each case only when specifically needed.

 

[Bathdave]

I was starting to wonder if there was any age or other factor in the preference. Are those who grew up with electronic aids more likely to prefer course up?

I made this hypothesis in post 23 and the more recent exchanges have rather validated it in my view

 

[SimonFa]

I made this hypothesis in post 23 and the more recent exchanges have rather validated it in my view

Sorry missed that. Or probably I didn't but only took it in subconsciously :encouragement:

 

[GrahamM376]

I made this hypothesis in post 23 and the more recent exchanges have rather validated it in my view

I'm of the older generation who grew up with paper charts/maps and have always used course up.

 

[JohnDL]

I'm of the older generation who grew up with paper charts/maps and have always used course up.

I'm also of the older generation etc. and use N up so no correlation from that small sample

 

[davidej]

I am definitely of the older generation and use Track Up -subtle different to CU

 

[BelleSerene]

I am definitely of the older generation and use Track Up -subtle different to CU

Really? What’s the difference?

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Course up for me every time. I visualise the map in my head so by looking at the course up image on the chartplotter, I know where I am.

 

[dslittle]

I'm of the older generation who grew up with paper charts/maps and have always used course up.

And me

 

[Pasarell]

I'm also of the older generation. North up on the plotter at chart table and course up on the one at the helm. Most of my sailing now is around Greek Islands so more pilotage than navigation so the course up makes sense to me. Plotter at the chart table is the master so has to be on although a bit of an extravagance except when I want to check the detail around where a guest is helming without looking over their shoulder. Mission for this year is learn how to switch the master to the one at the helm so the other does not need to be switched on at all.

 

[PhillM]

Its really depends on whether one's in a navigational or pilotage situation.

That makes perfect sense to me. I can see the value in using both. I suspect that what I will end up with is the plotter in North up and then ipad in course-up as backup to my pilotage sketches. I do not seem to have much problem getting myself to the last couple of miles away. What worries me is being able to accurately spot the harbour, line up on the transit and then have backup in case my plan isn't as accurate as it needs to be. That said, on the one occasion I felt quite lost due to lack of planning ( a change of plan as Yarmouth was full, so had to divert to Lymington - which took some doing without being washed out to the Needles on a spring ebb) I simply lined up with and followed the stream of yachts that seemed to know excatly where to go

 

[Babylon]

Yes, that view is called Herd-Up!

PS - Do most plotters have a quick button (or icon) to hit to change orientation, or does one have to tediously scroll through a load of menus?

 

[PhillM]

Yes, that view is called Herd-Up!

PS - Do most plotters have a quick button (or icon) to hit to change orientation, or does one have to tediously scroll through a load of menus?

Not figured the plotter out but tablet Navonics it’s three taps.

 

[Dab]

For me its about the usage, not the media and I do it the same way whether I am walking, cycling, driving or sailing, which is broadly north up for planning and course up for navigating. Unless using a really big screen I find that planning is easier on paper. All the writing and information on charts, OS maps and road atlases is orientated north up so it makes sense to use them that way. Once I have decided on a route, then for any navigational decision making I like to have the map orientated to the ground - so course up. If I just need to know where I am then north up is fine. How I manage this when sailing depends on what is available. A chart on the chart table will always be north up. If I am not doing pilotage then most of the time I am just checking where I am on the chart, where I am going next and it doesn't matter that the direction of travel and the orientation of the chart are out of synch. If am doing pilotage then I am heading down a pre-planned route and then having the chart (almost always in the form of a sketched pilotage plan) orientated in the direction of travel so that I am progressing along my route in the same direction as the boat as travelling minimises opportunities for confusion. Most of the time I sail in a boat with a plotter at the chart table that I can't see, so I leave that north up like the chart, but anything used above, usually a sketch, but it could be a folded chart in good conditions, would be orientated to the direction of travel. If I had a plotter down below and a plotter in the cockpit I would leave the one down below on north up and have the cockpit one course up. If I only had a plotter in the cockpit I would probably leave it on north up for the smaller scale stuff and switch to course up for any more detailed navigation at larger scale.

 

[DipperToo]

I am not sure about the detail (perhaps someone can correct me?), but there was an article some years ago which suggested the best orientation if you use a radar overlay on a chart. I know fast heading data was involved, but I seem to remember that it was suggested that in this case a North Up was preferred to maintain a more stable image? (Newer plotters may have better processing capabilities, and I 'think; this related to older devices such as the original Raymarine C and E Series?)
I agree that split screen radar as course up is easier to interpret.

 

[prv]

Really? What’s the difference?

Head up literally keeps your bow pointing at the top of the screen, so as you yaw to and fro down waves etc the picture will swing back and forth.

Course up adds a bit of stabilisation, taking your average course and keeping that at the top of the screen so it will be steady until you make a substantial alteration.

Track up, if it’s the mode I’m thinking of, is only available when you’ve set a route from one waypoint to another, and then it has that line between waypoints running straight up the screen, regardless of how the yacht moves about.

Pete