BrianH
Well-Known Member
A few years ago I was asked to help deliver a yacht somewhat early in the year and on asking about the on-board navigation facilities was informed there was no plotter, only paper charts and a GPS coordinates readout at the navigation station. As I was less than impressed I packed my notebook PC with a GPS USB adapter and OpenCPN with all relevant digital charts amongst my gear.
We had intended to make the passage in one stage but the first night brought 40 knot winds on the nose with sleeting rain so the decision was to close the coast and take shelter in an anchorage that I knew well.
It was an uncomfortable sail; there was no sprayhood and the waves hitting the bow were sheeting back in a constant deluge and the motion was extreme. The narrow entrance to the bay was always difficult to see even in daylight – on this dark night impossible, especially as the dim, port entrance light was not to see in the conditions.
I sat hunched in the companionway, out of the wind, rain and spray with the notebook on my lap, screen cursor on the entrance, continuously reeling off the range and bearing to the helmsman. Only when almost under the cliff was the port entrance light to see and we passed into calm water.
What I did would have been impossible with paper charts and traditional methods – even monumentally difficult with the existing, on-board system.
No, a plotter or its PC equivalence is not necessary, especially if you only go for local day sails. But as soon as a passage of any distance or time is involved it is crazy not to take advantage of what is available at very modest cost these days.
We had intended to make the passage in one stage but the first night brought 40 knot winds on the nose with sleeting rain so the decision was to close the coast and take shelter in an anchorage that I knew well.
It was an uncomfortable sail; there was no sprayhood and the waves hitting the bow were sheeting back in a constant deluge and the motion was extreme. The narrow entrance to the bay was always difficult to see even in daylight – on this dark night impossible, especially as the dim, port entrance light was not to see in the conditions.
I sat hunched in the companionway, out of the wind, rain and spray with the notebook on my lap, screen cursor on the entrance, continuously reeling off the range and bearing to the helmsman. Only when almost under the cliff was the port entrance light to see and we passed into calm water.
What I did would have been impossible with paper charts and traditional methods – even monumentally difficult with the existing, on-board system.
No, a plotter or its PC equivalence is not necessary, especially if you only go for local day sails. But as soon as a passage of any distance or time is involved it is crazy not to take advantage of what is available at very modest cost these days.
