RYA Digital First

[RunAgroundHard]

From time to time the RYA gets criticized for being out of date or to slow to react, especially in the navigation space. Digital navigation has been a feature for a few decades now, so in my opinion, much of the criticism was based on perception, rather than fact.

Digital First is the program that the RYA has in place and is being finalised, to teach digital navigation as the primary source of navigation. From RYA Training:-

Looking ahead, our mission is clear: we aim to seamlessly integrate electronic navigational equipment and digital information sources across all RYA navigation courses, shorebased and practical.

A lot of work has already been completed and the Digital First program preparation will be rolled out soon, initially through: new Day Skipper ebook, finalise training materials, resources and issue, a period for RTCs to transition by reworking lesson plans et cetera, finalised by a revalidation of shore based instructors.

I am not aware of schedule dates, or time lines, but assume it is for this winter season for the shore based, but that is a guess. I am just an interested bystander and not involved in anyway, except through RYA membership. There are a few articles in the RYA magazine and their website, if interested.

 

[lustyd]

Let's hope they update the content. Running through the shorebased day skipper content right now and their plotter examples are woefully out of date. The whole RADAR content needs a shake up too, I can't imagine buying a standalone RADAR set these days, or even using the RADAR only screen on the plotter for that matter.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Let's hope they update the content. Running through the shorebased day skipper content right now and their plotter examples are woefully out of date. The whole RADAR content needs a shake up too, I can't imagine buying a standalone RADAR set these days, or even using the RADAR only screen on the plotter for that matter.

Regarding the latter, I’m not so sure. On a recent delivery trip the boat had all mod cons concerning navigation and charting and overlay etc. if I overlaid the charting with AIS and with radar, the screen became rather confused. It was much clearer to have radar on one screen and chatting with AIS data on another.

 

[lustyd]

I can't speak for all plotters but B&G it's easy to reduce clutter, and I'd far rather have a little clutter than deal with traditional RADAR induced accident type stuff. I find that most of the clutter is RADAR and AIS based anyway, the chart doesn't add a lot to this and I wouldn't turn off either of the others.

 

[john_morris_uk]

I can't speak for all plotters but B&G it's easy to reduce clutter, and I'd far rather have a little clutter than deal with traditional RADAR induced accident type stuff. I find that most of the clutter is RADAR and AIS based anyway, the chart doesn't add a lot to this and I wouldn't turn off either of the others.

Please clarify what you mean by ‘traditional RADAR induced accident type stuff.’

Obviously one can get rid of most ‘clutter’ on a radar display (albeit with the caveat of an increased risk of not displaying small or weak targets.) by using the controls.

On the Raymarine displays I was using radar and chart overlaid was often slightly confused. After all low lying coast radar return rarely correlates with the actual coast as charted. Buoys were sometimes mistaken as moving targets or just completely separate to the reality we were looking out of the bridge window at. Etc etc.

I appreciate how clever radar overlay on charting can be but it’s not always helpful. It was your comment that you couldn’t imagine not using it that had me questioning.

 

[st599]

They've been talking at the Instructors' conference about updating the RYA course for 8 years - not sure they've found someone to re-write it yet. The main feedback from the instructors was to use the same system that ASA use - open source software to "play out" real life scenarios which can be viewed on a range of different software platforms - lots of US schools use Open CPN.

Instead I think they've gone for bespoke software with a large licensing cost.

 

[lustyd]

Please clarify what you mean by ‘traditional RADAR induced accident type stuff.’

It was the whole purpose of the course. Traditional radar caused many accidents as people altered course and caused a collision due to the nature of the radar display. Chart overlay entirely fixes those issues and makes interpretation of the data a doddle.
I can do it the old way but there’s no reason I’d choose to on a leisure craft.

 

[WindyWindyWindy]

It's a shame that there's no digital charting system for yachts where the manufacturer will accept that the intended purpose is navigation.

 

[dunedin]

It's a shame that there's no digital charting system for yachts where the manufacturer will accept that the intended purpose is navigation.

Not sure the fault lies with the leisure craft suppliers, vs the hydrographic offices who own the chart data and prefer to sell much more expensive commercial ENCs?

 

[finestgreen]

It's a shame that there's no digital charting system for yachts where the manufacturer will accept that the intended purpose is navigation.

I can understand that bit, it's a big leap of liability. What I don't understand is the lack of obvious functionality in the popular chartplotter brands - basic stuff like being able to annotate charts with geometry and text

 

[MADRIGAL]

Not sure the fault lies with the leisure craft suppliers, vs the hydrographic offices who own the chart data and prefer to sell much more expensive commercial ENCs?

There is an international effort underway to agree on standards for electronic charts to be used in the "sub-ECDIS sector". This sector includes both leisure craft and the many small commercial craft that do not need/cannot fit full-size ECDIS for electronic navigation. This standardisation is considered necessary before governments will be willing to authorise electronic charts intended for navigation for small craft chartplotters.

While national hydrographic offices generate much (but not all) of the hydrographic survey data, each commercial company decides what to include on their charts and what to show at each zoom level. The RIN is involved in the consultation process, as are the UKHO and the HO's of other member states of the International Hydrographic Organization.

 

[jlavery]

I can understand that bit, it's a big leap of liability. What I don't understand is the lack of obvious functionality in the popular chartplotter brands - basic stuff like being able to annotate charts with geometry and text

That's what can be done with AngelNav (perform traditional chartwork and add, for example, exclusion zones). But again this is an independent application, not a mainstream plotter.

Disclaimer - I'm one of the AngelNav developers.

 

[finestgreen]

That's what can be done with AngelNav (perform traditional chartwork and add, for example, exclusion zones). But again this is an independent application, not a mainstream plotter.

Disclaimer - I'm one of the AngelNav developers.

The minute you release it for Android I'll be one of your customers

 

[jlavery]

The minute you release it for Android I'll be one of your customers

I'm sitting down below in Mallaig, coding right now!

 

[Bristolfashion]

It's a shame that there's no digital charting system for yachts where the manufacturer will accept that the intended purpose is navigation.

I suspect that modern boats have a plate somewhere which says, "not to be used in the water!"

 

[Sandy]

Let's hope they update the content. Running through the shorebased day skipper content right now and their plotter examples are woefully out of date. The whole RADAR content needs a shake up too, I can't imagine buying a standalone RADAR set these days, or even using the RADAR only screen on the plotter for that matter.

Until three years ago I had an old fashioned radar screen down at the nav station. It went pop and i replaced it with a new Garmin. I still prefer to use it on its own black screen.