Old charts

machurley22

machurley22

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I have been given a very large number of old (corrected to 70's) charts of the west coast of Scotland, along with pilots and CCC sailing directions of a later period. These make a substantial knowledge injection to my current catalogue of 4 Admiralty and 1 Imray though there are obvious drawbacks.

Does anyone have any advice on making best use of these charts? Obviously, I will not base my actions on any opinion given!

Dave

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Wallpaper

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I tend to consider charts like a book and would "read" over them and memorise the features - remember rocks don't move. Also with older charts I have them framed and use as a feature in my conservatory - so maybe "wallpaper" is an option.

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Old charts are great, as another scribbler said rocks dont move (much) and you never navigate that close for small changes to be a problem.
Even new charts can be wrong and shouldn't be blindly relied on....Imray last year put a lighthouse on the wrong headland of a dangerous narrow entrance on the Spanish coast....If you'd trusted the chart you'd have gone the wrong side of the headland we were to say the least confused but cautious, and avoided the hard stuff! Old charts in my mind are as agood as new with an up to date pilot book, and talk to the locals where ever you stop.

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"The rocks don\'t move"

The charts are better than nothing at all, and fine for passage planning. Check the dates of the surveys on which they are based, you may find the latest charts aren't any more up to date! In some parts of the world, charts based on surveys 100 years old, showing buoyage that disappeared with the imperial power, are not at all uncommon.

One can be too precious about the need for absolutely up-to-date information. However, your insurers might not be amused if an accident did occur involving a navigation error.

Don't think of using them in areas of sandbanks or river estuaries. There may be new wrecks, but any presenting a serious hazard are likely to be marked by buoys.

These charts will be pre IALA buoyage so the visual aids to navigation will be completely wrong, but I guess you could bring them up to date from information in the current almanac. Many harbours will have changed considerably, there were few marinas 30 years ago, but again, a current almanac will have harbour plans.

Depths will be in fathoms, not metres, and drying heights are in feet, that at least that means erring on the safe side!



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Re: \"The rocks don\'t move\"

When going through narrow channels inside islands, watch out for power lines that didn't exist in the chart's day. A friend of mine just stopped in time to avoid losing his mast to a bridge in Ireland when working with a 1975 chart one dark night.

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The rocks don\'t move

I met an extraordinary french sailor in Avignon. We were on route to the med and he was drinking beer with a dutch barge skipper. We became friends. He had done all the stuff we really dream about, across the pacific, everywhere you can think of. He gave me about 50 beautiful charts
extremely old but his view was that they were perfectly sound, after all if you have 100% faith in the chart you are 100% stupid.


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