Solent Charts

[bedouin]

I am currently pottering around the Solent with a set of charts that are probably 10 years old and I long since gave up updating them from NMs.

Do I have any options other than the Admiralty or Imray Folios?

I notice the Admiralty version is 15th Edition - published November 2013 - I thought that was republished every year (and the edition number seems to support that) but this one is 18 months old - does that mean that they are in the process of reprinting (so one bought now will be out of date next month) or have they changed the schedule? I did find chart corrections for the SC5600 on line and I am pretty sure they never used to produce those.

Imray Folio seems no cheaper than Admiralty and provides no more information - but perhaps is easier to correct and may last longer between publications (although the latest seems to be 2 years old already).

 

[LadyInBed]

How quaint, so 20th Century :biggrin-new:

 

[Lucky Duck]

I have found Imray Chart C3 perfectly satisfactory as a back up/supplement to my plotter and which presumably costs less than either of the chart folios.

 

[l'escargot]

Only 10 years old? Not much changed in that time, a couple of buoys moved, a new breakwater off Cowes but nothing much that affects the leisure sailor in reasonably good conditions. can't remember the last time I looked at a chart for the Solent.

 

[bedouin]

Only 10 years old? Not much changed in that time, a couple of buoys moved, a new breakwater off Cowes but nothing much that affects the leisure sailor in reasonably good conditions. can't remember the last time I looked at a chart for the Solent.

Well - that is part of it - but last year I did move from Chi to OV so had to learn a new set of local hazards

The chartlets in the Almanac provide updated buoy information anyway - which is why the cost of the Folio seems excessive.

Imray C3 costs about half the cost of the Folios (which for 1 chart rather than 10 seems expensive)

 

[prv]

I'm still a regular user of paper charts, and rather enjoy correcting them each spring - it's a ritual that marks the imminent beginning of the new season

Admiralty and Imray are the only choices I'm aware of; I mostly use Imray although I do have an Admiralty folio of the Channel Islands so I'm familiar with correcting both. Imray corrections are easier as they are grouped by chart sheet rather than chronologically, and they're also less pedantic about minor changes of no possible relevance to yachtsmen.

I don't think the Admiralty folios have ever been published every year. I think they once had a different leisure format, on flimsier paper, which was designed to be re-printed rather than corrected, but it was discontinued some time ago.

For both Admiralty and Imray, the current edition is the current edition, needs correcting up to date, and will continue to be corrected until either there are so many of them, or such a big change, that they decide to release a new edition. I don't think there's any particular schedule for that, it just depends what changes. Imray did bring out a new Solent pack fairly recently, so perhaps are the better bet if you don't want them to be superceded soon after you buy.

Pete

 

[salar]

You can download the updates or they update automatically depending on...hang on, do you mean those paper things that you have to go into the chart locker to find a whole new chart if you want to pan and zoom? I now keep my paper charts with my oil lamps and trailing log.

 

[prv]

hang on, do you mean those paper things that you have to go into the chart locker to find a whole new chart if you want to pan and zoom?

That's them, the ones with the 42" screen at 11,000 x 8,000 resolution

Pete

 

[RestlessL]

Before you buy the 15th edition of the Admiralty Solent Folio, I would suggest that you download the 17 pages of corrections you will need to apply. Look in particular at page 14 which include the following:

Notices to Mariners - Weekly Edition 48/2014 England - South Coast, Langstone and Chichester Harbours.
— Chart 3418 — New Edition Announcement.
Chart SC5600·16 and SC5600·20 WGS84 DATUM
The following changes were published in the new edition of chart 3418, which is the source chart for the above folio sheets:
Includes changes to depths from the latest British Government, Chichester Harbour Conservancy and commercial surveys. Mariners should therefore navigate with caution on sheets SC5600·16 and SC5600·20 and be aware that any subsequent Notices to Mariners applied to these sheets are issued for information only.
These changes will be included in the next new edition of SC5600.

No actual changes were included in the NM, so the Chichester and Langstone Harbour charts in the Leisure Folio are now obsolete. It is now over 4 months since NM 48/2014 was issued, and there is no sign that a revised Solent Folio is about to be issued.

The changes are significant in the Chi Hbr Entrance / East Head area. If you want to see them I suggest you buy the Memory Map UK and Ireland changes which includes the new edition of chart 3418.

J

 

[Boathook]

Only 10 years old? Not much changed in that time, a couple of buoys moved, a new breakwater off Cowes but nothing much that affects the leisure sailor in reasonably good conditions. can't remember the last time I looked at a chart for the Solent.

My view as well but I sometimes get one out to remind me of the areas to avoid .........

 

[LadyInBed]

The following changes were published in the new edition of chart 3418, which is the source chart for the above folio sheets:
Includes changes to depths from the latest British Government, Chichester Harbour Conservancy and commercial surveys. Mariners should therefore navigate with caution on sheets SC5600·16 and SC5600·20 and be aware that any subsequent Notices to Mariners applied to these sheets are issued for information only.
These changes will be included in the next new edition of SC5600.

No actual changes were included in the NM, so the Chichester and Langstone Harbour charts in the Leisure Folio are now obsolete. It is now over 4 months since NM 48/2014 was issued, and there is no sign that a revised Solent Folio is about to be issued.

The changes are significant in the Chi Hbr Entrance / East Head area. If you want to see them I suggest you buy the Memory Map UK and Ireland changes which includes the new edition of chart 3418.

J

Are you talking about this one?
A survey of Chichester Bar 15 December 2014 shows a least depth of 0.9m below Chart Datum. To view this survey please see http://www.conservancy.co.uk/assets/assets/Bar Survey_V2 December 2014.pdf

 

[Elessar]

I am currently pottering around the Solent with a set of charts that are probably 10 years old and I long since gave up updating them from NMs.

Do I have any options other than the Admiralty or Imray Folios?

I notice the Admiralty version is 15th Edition - published November 2013 - I thought that was republished every year (and the edition number seems to support that) but this one is 18 months old - does that mean that they are in the process of reprinting (so one bought now will be out of date next month) or have they changed the schedule? I did find chart corrections for the SC5600 on line and I am pretty sure they never used to produce those.

Imray Folio seems no cheaper than Admiralty and provides no more information - but perhaps is easier to correct and may last longer between publications (although the latest seems to be 2 years old already).

Imray folios are good value from Amazon and the paper lasts far longer than the admiralty ones. Gets my vote every time. Better than the chart for me as it fits my chart table.

 

[RestlessL]

Are you talking about this one?
A survey of Chichester Bar 15 December 2014 shows a least depth of 0.9m below Chart Datum. To view this survey please see http://www.conservancy.co.uk/assets/assets/Bar Survey_V2 December 2014.pdf

No. That survey was after Weekly NM 48/2014. No doubt it will feature in future corrections to chart 3418, but as the NM states, there are to be no more changes for the current version of the leisure folio relating to charts derived from 3418

 

[YachtAllegro]

That's them, the ones with the 42" screen at 11,000 x 8,000 resolution

Pete

+1
Can't beat paper charts. Have sailed boats with plotters, and occasionally have a play with one on a tablet on board, just for the fun of showing the kids the little boat moving across the chart, but never use them in anger.

Cheers
Patrick

 

[[70521]]

Can't beat paper charts. Have sailed boats with plotters, and occasionally have a play with one on a tablet on board, just for the fun of showing the kids the little boat moving across the chart, but never use them in anger.

+1

 

[prv]

Can't beat paper charts. Have sailed boats with plotters, and occasionally have a play with one on a tablet on board, just for the fun of showing the kids the little boat moving across the chart, but never use them in anger.

I have two plotters in the cockpit now (main one under the windscreen at the front of the cockpit, plus a small one on the binnacle) and I do use them "in anger". But it's the old problem of zooming, panning, and decluttering algorithms hiding things. My C70 with Navionics is particularly fond of removing buoys at an inappropriately high level of zoom, the soundings are too far apart, and the way it varies the depth contour colours at different zoom levels is disconcerting. For the definitive view of an area I find it much easier to jump down the hatch and look at a chart.

On a cross-Channel passage, I like to lightly mark our predicted track according to the well-known tidal S-curve and then see how close to it the actual hourly fixes appear - if the lines start to diverge, and especially if they don't look like re-converging after the turn of the tide, I know I need to start making corrections. Similarly if they're way off early on then I've probably screwed up somewhere in the planning. All of this is very easy and natural on a chart of the whole passage which you can draw and sketch on freely. The hourly plot is a ritual that helps divide up the time too.

I'd probably use the chart less if I didn't have a Yeoman to make plotting fixes and taking ranges and bearings really easy and simple.

Pete

 

[Elessar]

+1
Can't beat paper charts. Have sailed boats with plotters, and occasionally have a play with one on a tablet on board, just for the fun of showing the kids the little boat moving across the chart, but never use them in anger.

Cheers
Patrick

paper is backup for me now. As it is for Tom Cunliffe I note - but remember this is a leisure activity if you enjoy navigating on paper and prefer it to electronic, then you are right