Pilotage plans

Having learnt and developed my navigation as a raggie it came as a bit of an eye-opener to me to find out how much more difficult navigation and pilotage can be on a power boat. The two main factors are the much higher pace of work and (for smaller mobos) the difficulty in reading and operating chart plotters due to the boats movement. Similarly paper charts cannot be referred to whilst at speed.

During my mobo training I was expected to safely navigate solo at the boats cruising speed (28Kn +) and also carry out (relatively) fast pilotage at 15 to 20 knots approaching/in harbour. Before anyone pipes up, these were legal and sensible speeds for the conditions and areas concerned. It was soon obvious that standard raggie nav practice wouldn't cut it - cue the simple but effective stick/ladder notes raised by srevir. The form of "ladder" navigation note I was taught referenced all detail to the boats heading i.e. ahead/port/starboard and included nav marks/lights/transits/hazards plus course/distance/time per "rung". I use A4 size paper allowing space for the info in BIG clear text/graphics and place this in a rigid secured plastic wallet. Properly prepared it is a very effective method, especially if single-handed. The plotter and paper chart remain to hand for reference. I am sure a Powerboat Instructor could provide the finer details for anyone interested.

Re. Captainslarty and wooslehunter, at low speed many mobos are less manouverable and far more subject to wind force than sailboats under power - if you have mobo experience and think otherwise then we have different experiences ;>)

A.
 
I am quite alarmed at WHY some people buy plotters and then dont trust them ???. Why not ??
It is ALL about situational awareness. What do you do if you are suddenly blanketed in fog ?... your stick chart is no good then really.
Have a backup, yes, but.. by being aware of your surroundings, you will have little worry.. blindly following a stick thingy or indeed a plotter is a fools errand.
The most dangerous practice ever is taking the gps position and plotting it on the paper chart as a primary means of navigation. Yet Many do just that. If one uses, say maxsea, then a 3 point fix is childs play with a hb compass and far faster than paper..

Soon all paper charts will be so expensive as not to be viable, people already buy far less, as the numbers drop, the price increases further. Chart agents are going out of business all the time.
Offshore virtual everyone relies totally on gps. And absolutely no reason not to inshore with correct situational awareness.
 
Ahoy, sorry Sir, missed that one.
Re mob, I have years of mobo experience, but mainly all displacement hulls.
Even with a gin palace, surely it would be stable atg 5 or 6 knots on a difficult navigation !.. when on higher speeds the plotter is also the best tool surely ?..

Joe
 
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I am quite alarmed at WHY some people buy plotters and then dont trust them ???. Why not ??

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My response was more about usability in different conditions and having options for those conditions. I have plenty of confidence in chart plotters and they are my default navigation instrument, but not necessarily the immediate source of information for some nav/pilotage situations.

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It is ALL about situational awareness. What do you do if you are suddenly blanketed in fog ?... your stick chart is no good then really.

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Totally different discussion, but, assuming that it is still safe to make way then: 1) radar plus 2) chart plotter plus 3) reliable compass. The "stick" nav notes are then useful for the very reason they ARE based on situational awareness i.e. comparing what is prepared specific information for the location with actual surroundings - it also continues to function if any/all of the rest fail (rare but not unknown!).

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.. blindly following a stick thingy --

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During the early '60s (when I were but a child) I used to go to sea with my father who was a coaster skipper and I was able to experience navigation and pilotage pre-electronic era. The tools consisted of up to date charts, a good compass with deviation card, good lookout drills and .... pre-prepared nav notes very akin to what we have been discussing. I can still recall a slow but accurate passage in fog through the Eastern Solent using skill and these basic tools - it set an example of seamanship I try to be capable of.

[ QUOTE ]
The most dangerous practice ever is taking the gps position and plotting it on the paper chart as a primary means of navigation. Yet Many do just that. If one uses, say maxsea, then a 3 point fix is childs play with a hb compass and far faster than paper..

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Not sure why this is more dangerous than using your chart plotter for all the other navigation purposes, but agree with the need to take alternative fixes (visual if conditions permit). There again, I don't carry additional electronics (PC) for this purpose, just the HB compass and old world nav tools /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

I seem to be drifting off topic, but thanks for the prodding /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

A.
 
Joe,

I have never had the finance or opportunity to get any experience with the Gin Palace mobos, but in general planing mobos tend to have poor directional control at low speed (small draught, small rudders, minimal keel, high windage). Add in a relatively high boat speed at engine idle (maybe 5+ kn) and slow speed work consists of continual course corrections and slipping in/out of gear. Can be very wearing for protracted low speed nav or when following a sail boat pottering under power at 4 or 5 knots /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif Again something I hadn't appreciated until my "conversion".

As you say, the plotter is generally the best tool on a difficult navigation, particularly when set up with the pilotage detail, but they can prove hard to read and operate when bouncing around at higher speeds and it rather defeats the object to keep slowing in order to consult plotter detail /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif.

I have recently changed from a planing boat to a semi-displacement one as I don't need the high top speed, as a benefit it provides better low speed control and is far more comfortable at cruising speed (18 Kn). Far easier to hit the right plotter keys as well /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif It is probably my raggie roots, but it also has a more satisfying boat "presence".

I still rate the benefits of the nav notes ("stick" style) though!

Alan.
 
[ QUOTE ]
The most dangerous practice ever is taking the gps position and plotting it on the paper chart as a primary means of navigation. Yet Many do just that. If one uses, say maxsea, then a 3 point fix is childs play with a hb compass and far faster than paper..

[/ QUOTE ] Can you explain a little more why you believe that this is the most dangerous form of Nav for a sailing yacht? Or are you referring to its use on a power boat?
 
To answer the original question.

When navigating in and out of familiar ports in good weather and fair conditions I don't often draw a pilotage plan.

When I am approaching an unfamiliar port and its daylight and the weather is fair, I confess that I 'might' take the paper chart in the cockpit. Our Golf du Morbihan chart is looking a bit ragged as a result of having it in the cockpit for hours and hours over the last few seasons of cruising the Morbihan. Fortunately, we have a very sheltered area under the spray-hood where we can keep it out of the elements most of the time. Pilotage in the Morbihan is so complex that drawing a sketch or a meaningful ladder pilotage plan would be tedious.

If I need to draw up a pilotage plan (I am obviously a luddite because we don't have a plotter!) I personally prefer to draw a sketch chart with the relevant bearings and key features on it. For me a sketch chart works better than the 'ladder' system - but its just a matter of personal preference.

When I navigate fast mobo's I have occasionally used the ladder system, but I often stick with my sketches. Nav in a fast mobo is much more about planning the passage and then putting the plan into action than navigating 'on the hoof' which you have the time and conditions to allow thinking and chart drawing time.

I wish people wouldn't make such derogatory remarks about 'people who don't trust their plotter', 'why have it if you don't trust it' etc etc. The best navigators NEVER put all their trust in one thing. I presume that these people don't bother to look at their echo-sounder when they are entering harbour? Obviously there must be water where I am - my plotter says that there is. The plotter can be an excellent bit of kit - but its an AID to safe navigation, nothing more. Its very clever and it shows you where it thinks you are on its electronic chart, but you still have to look out and make sure that you make sense of the data portrayed with what you are seeing for real.

When I can afford a decent plotter with a large screen that represents charts in a way that I recognise I will buy one. I see little attraction in swapping my paper charts and GPS, (and compass, log and echo-sounder) for some of the small screens that some people seem addicted to. I like some of the new Raymarine plotters, but can't afford one just at the moment.

I'll get my flak jacket...
 
Hi John
Yes, the problem with using a gps position then transfering to a paper chart is one of the numbers being misread or misplotted. Yet, many people do just that.. they also fail to back up their nav with situational awareness and traditional methods.. whereas, the plotter doesnt make mistakes in that way.
Joe
 
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Hi John
Yes, the problem with using a gps position then transfering to a paper chart is one of the numbers being misread or misplotted. Yet, many people do just that.. they also fail to back up their nav with situational awareness and traditional methods.. whereas, the plotter doesnt make mistakes in that way.
Joe

[/ QUOTE ]I agree that watching the numbers is something that needs to be watched carefully when you are transferring GPS positions. Its probably why lots of people use a compass rose on the chart as a waypoint and then plot bearing and distance to instead of Lat and Long. Admiralty Charts often (I can't type 'always' as I haven't checked) put the Lat Long of the compass rose on the chart to enable this practice.

I think what drew my attention was your assertion that plotting a GPS position onto paper is THE MOST DANGEROUS method of navigation - especially as its the method we use.
 
Obviously I don't bother with good viz, tideless, straightforward approaches but something like the approach to Beaucette in clag with a tide running and you want to be sure that you are going to get in even if systems fail. I once lost all electronics on a departure from Ramsgate in fog, with a ferry in the inbound channel - radar, GPS, all down. I got back into the marina only because I had made a departure plan and had calculated a safe reciprocal.

Anyway, I draw a stylised sketch of the route on an A4 pad, noting the distances, leg times at estimated speed, buoy names and lights, estimated tides, calculated headings (which I update from real life when making an approach with autopilot linked to the GPS so if that fails I can continue on a compass course). So I have a line running up with x nm alongside, yyy (Mag) zzz (Hdg) tt (min) a vector showing roughly the tide and the buoy and light details updated carefully from the latest sources available to me. I put depth markers as appropriate and notable HBC bearings at certain points. This is one of the few occasions when both my wife and I are both actively on watch and I monitor the radar, plotter and depth (we are always on autopilot) and we both check off each buoy as we pass it and take bearings with the HBC - if we don't see the buoy we keep going provided that depth and electronics show that all is OK. I always motor in these conditions as we are very short-handed.

It is vital to have a safe reciprocal course so that if things go pear shaped (as they did for me in Ramsgate) you have an immediate compass course to safety. Murphy's law - the kit will fail when you need it most.

I should add that we don't often do it - I try to avoid needing high workloads as that decreases our overall safety margin, but when we need to, we do.
 
Lemain,

Your remark about Beaucette caused me to remeber an 'interesting' approach there in early May, 2006.

Captainslarty - this should make you happy !!

Declining vis but using both the plotter and my notes we dropped the sails and made the turn onto the approach heading. All seemed fine until we failed to find any of the channel buoys.

When that happens you start to doubt your sanity - I had checked notices to mariners so was convinced I had up to-date info.

The narrow entrance was on the edge of visibility.

Boy was I grateful for the plotter and the dpth guage then.

Once inside we discovered that the HM had been let down by his maintenance suppplier and the buoys were not yet back in the water !

As John Morries says - The best navigators NEVER put all their trust in one thing.

Have fun
 
Exactly the same thing happened to me in 2001! I had sailed over from Salcombe to arrive at Beaucette turning point at around 1930 - unfortunately into the setting sun but no alternative. It was my first visit and the HM had told me on the phone the day before that I would see the channel buoys and a white painted leading mark. As it happened, I turned according to the GPS (no plotter) and radar, and watched depth but no buoy! And no white marker! I followed depth, radar and a GPS radial (effectively zero-viz technique) and got in. The HM told me that he hadn't put the buoys out because they kept getting lost! The white mark was there but hadn't been painted for years, and was grey. The HM was a really weird guy who looked stoned all the time. He wore dark glasses so we called him 'shades'. Is he still there?
 
John,

Many thanks for your detailed and considered reply

Lots of people have been most helpful

In particular 'Sticky' - interesting name given my 'name' for the form of plan I was talking of.

He sent me a PM with some very useful notes and a diagram.

Many thanks to everyone
 
Dont recall the shades but we did have a very nice meal.

I would certainly go again as we only spent one night there because weather was closing in and needed to get off to Weymouth

Have fun
 
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John,

Many thanks for your detailed and considered reply

Lots of people have been most helpful

In particular 'Sticky' - interesting name given my 'name' for the form of plan I was talking of.

He sent me a PM with some very useful notes and a diagram.

Many thanks to everyone

[/ QUOTE ]Thank you for your kind words.

My only regreat is that I am sorry that 'Sticky' sent you the plans and diagrams by PM - its exactly the sort of thing that I suggest might be best aired openly so that all can benefit from good ideas and best practice. Sharing good ideas and dispelling myths etc is what I believe that these forums are all about.
 
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