Passage planning at home

[firstascent2002]

Just sitting down amid a mass of charts to plan a passage from Burnham to plymouth. What is the best system to put on my computer to play with. I don't really think that I'll ever get anymore hightec than my yeoman on board, but here at home it would be great to have something to play with. Any recommnedations? I'm not too keen to spend masses on e charts as I think that chances of coming back to the east coast in the next few years are slim

any suggestions please

j

 

[Searush]

Tsunamis 99 charts are available cheaply on e-bay and are good fun to play with if not too easy to get into (interfaces are NOT intuitive!)
In addition to passage planning at home & just the fun of reviewing past anchorages & passages, I use mine on the boat with a USB GPS receiver. Electronic position plotter for under £50! Extremely accurate. I have used it (very cautiously) on several intricate passages around the channels & sandbanks of the Menai Straits and found it spot on. Definitely good enough to give me confidence to use where I have less knowledge of the locality.

 

[Guest]

I usually use a Road Atlas plus my fingers as dividers...

Sorry - useless answer of the week, but true!

 

[LadyInBed]

Not so silly, that's how I did my initial planning to get back from Royan after the Midi.

 

[firstascent2002]

I did buy a copy os that off e-bay with a world chart portfolio. When it loaded, i could ot get it to do anything other than hand out around the gulf of mexico! I could not make it zoom in to any useful level and all of the navigation buttons that the manual suggested should be on the side of the screen were not. It was quite hateful! (any tips gratefully recived!)

 

[npf1]

Seapro Lite is worth a look at.

 

[Guest]

Well seems to be good enough, bearing in mind that no plan survives contact with the enemy anyway!

 

[l'escargot]

What are you talking about for price? For under £50 (was only £30 at SIB) there is Admiralty RYA Chart Plotter

 

[bilbobaggins]

I recommend you do your gross route planning in chunks, using the UKHO NW European Catalogue ( free ) and large-scale HO charts for your basic passage plans, with Reeds/McMillans Almanac and Reeves-Fowkes' Tidal Atlas.

As for detailed work at departure and destination ports, and intermediate 'problem areas', I recommend you use the Admiralty/RYA Navigational Software e-folios. They are as good as it gets. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

You'll probably be thinking of chunks such as 'Burnham/North Foreland', NF/Solent, Solent/Weymouth, Weymouth/Dartmouth, Dartmouth/Plymouth' or something similar. Or you could do it the old-fashioned 'offshore' way, a la RBR last leg, from Burnham-to-Plymouth. And 'mix 'n match'.

You'll want a companionable 'other' along. Don't take a girlie, for they're always wittering on about why they're late on watch, or the sea-toilet is 'difficult again', or why you shouldn't take sugar in your coffee, or summat.....

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[IzzyDeadyet]

I filled more than one night last winter reading this website. The coastal info was interesting and useful for initial planning and background reading before and during my chartwork.
rccpf passage planning

 

[Marmalade]

Admiralty chart plotter and Neptune for tides / wind / departure times etc. If I bought the CMap charts Neptune might be all I need. Good export functions too so can dump waypoints into file and upload to Raymarine C80 on the boat

 

[jimbaerselman]

Road atlas and tide tables. The tides wil dominate your passage planning . . .