Babylon
Well-known member
Me too! There needs to be a sailor's ditty for this - "large scale, small detail" - or the suchlike for those of us whose brains are relentlessly losing a few of their own anchorages!
What is the minimum amount of charts and books that I need for going around Scotland?
- Thread starter Thresher
- Start date
Me too! There needs to be a sailor's ditty for this - "large scale, small detail" - or the suchlike for those of us whose brains are relentlessly losing a few of their own anchorages!
awol
Well-known member
The AA do a wonderful book of maps for the UK that has sufficed for some of the sailors who have received fame in the tabloids - about £5. If you baulk at spending £200 on charts, etc. I wonder at your budget for the whole trip. Miss out the Caledonian Canal and you have saved more than half your £200.
Kelpie
Well-known member
And missed all the best bits too!
One of these days I'm going to "sail round Britain" via the canal, by going around the top half.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
I have an old tablet with MXMariner and charts up as far as Ardnamurchan. When I go north of there again the next set up (rest of Scotland, I think) is another fiver.
Stemar
Well-known member
Not sure I'd want to rely on internet access off Dunnet Head. If I were too strapped to afford a year's subscription to Navionics, I reckon I'd be too strapped to prepare the boat properly for a potentially challenging trip
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
Can I add the Tidal Stream Atlas for the West of Scotland (NP218) as a suggestion? I should have thought of it before. I find it invaluable.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
I agree. However, there are a lot of places where finding one's own way in to a safe spot would be very arduous indeed, not least because charting of them, until Bob Bradfield started filling in the gaps, was so poor. The CCC books are a useful way of conveying local knowledge and save time and stress. I have heard that some charter companies insist that only places in the books are used which is a shame because, as you say, there are a myriad other opportunities. One does not have to visit Puilladobhran, thank goodness.
Quandary
Well-known member
I have been cruising around N.I. and W. Scotland for donkeys years and have acquired a reasonable collection of mixed Admiralty and Imray charts, they reside in the drawer of the chart table, on top of it I have a laptop running Seatrak inc. a full folio of 'Admiralty' charts covering the UK and Ireland, It also gives me live tidal heights and flows, tides are strong and flows complex. It costs less than £100 per year, though you do not need to renew annually if you are content to source the tidal info elsewhere. On the same laptop I have Memory Map purchased 5 or 6 years ago which also contains the same UK charts but provides much less supplementary information than Seatrak, however it also host the Antares charts that I use when exploring anchorages.
I also bring a tablet which has the free Android version of Memory Map with the Antares charts for finding my way past rocks going close inshore to anchor but it has proved less useful than anticipated because of the blinding sunlight we always have up here. I use the CCC pilot books for advice on distances between destinations, tidal streams and the nearest pub. Welcome Anchorages also gives some info on visitors mooring or pontoon berths plus shore facilities but not on anchorages, I think it lists about two, but hey-ho it is free.
What has been sadly lacking is the provision of advice on the best places to get ashore with a dinghy but Antares have started to address that more now.
I also bring a tablet which has the free Android version of Memory Map with the Antares charts for finding my way past rocks going close inshore to anchor but it has proved less useful than anticipated because of the blinding sunlight we always have up here. I use the CCC pilot books for advice on distances between destinations, tidal streams and the nearest pub. Welcome Anchorages also gives some info on visitors mooring or pontoon berths plus shore facilities but not on anchorages, I think it lists about two, but hey-ho it is free.
What has been sadly lacking is the provision of advice on the best places to get ashore with a dinghy but Antares have started to address that more now.
Thresher
Active member
Oh well, it looks like I'm not going to be able to avoid spending some money.
Thank you everyone. Wonderful advice as always.
Thank you everyone. Wonderful advice as always.
AngusMcDoon
Well-known member
Pretty much sums up all aspects of boating!
Kelpie
Well-known member
Yes I agree. Just answering the hypothetical question of how to do this without spending any money.
Another resource that covers a lot of bases is the Reeds Almanac. Buoys, facilities, tides. So for £40 you can navigate pretty much anywhere in Western Europe. Not a patch on using proper pilot books and charts of course.
When we bought our boat and delivered her here from Holyhead, there was a section of the journey for which we didn't have pilot books, tidal atlas, or detailed chart coverage. But Reeds filled the gap and got us through it. Of course we had our plotter and Navionics on the phone as well.
Minchsailor
Well-known member
For facilities, don't treat everything in Reeds as gospel - treat it as a guide. I know of a considerable numbers of errors in the NW of Scotland which will persist. But otherwise +1
The amendments to the CCC's pilots are pretty much up-to-date, and if there is a major safety related item we can get it published quickly.
steve yates
Well-known member
Just get navionics on a tablet with a backup on your phone, then get the relevent tidal stream atlases. You can do it with those alone, but I would definitely add the pilot books, the total expense will be a fraction of the cost of the trip. Get the charts used or s/h if you want them, the essentials dont change, ie rocks and races. but you dont need mobile signal coverage to navigate with tablets and phones, just gps.
dunedin
Well-known member
One night spent on anchor when you would otherwise have headed to a pontoon will pay for the cost of the CCC Pilot book. And a second night on anchor will save you t,he equivalent of a full set of electronic charts, if get when on the sale price. Bargain
mattonthesea
Well-known member
Worth asking on this or other forums. I got most of West Scotland pilots here for not much. I would offer them to you but we are planning on finishing our Baltic trip around Scotland on the way home - CV19 permitting. I sold my North Atlantic charts (lots of them) and pilot books as a job lot - bargain!
Also worth joining FB Cruising Scotland. I found the help and generosity of that parish was fantastic.
Also worth joining FB Cruising Scotland. I found the help and generosity of that parish was fantastic.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
I have a collection of old CCC books which I used to loan out to visitors, mainly through uk.rec.sailing. If the OP would like one, I can have a look and see what's left. It will be mid-70s at the latest.
Minchsailor
Well-known member
Careful - I have an early '70s 'Blue Book'; I give it to novice (to sailing in the Hebrides) crew and suggest they use it to navigate to somewhere like Loch Skipport/Wizard pool. The look of horror that comes over their face makes my day.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
I find my 1937 copy (later dates are available) invaluable for the northern entrance to the Sound of Ulva, because it has far, far more soundings than the modern one or the chart. That said, you really need the sketch charts to get full benefit of the books.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
You need a different attitude to navigation to use these old resources - not "exactly where am I and which direction do I go next?" but "If I can see X, Y and Z I am clear of danger and can proceed". Your exact position won't help - sketch charts aren't positionally accurate anyway, so you have to work out sight lines and develop a feeeling for the direction to head for safe water. It's a different kind of skill from using a chart plotter, or even from using an accurate chart with good position fixing.
That said, I find it far more difficult to navigate on the East Coast than I did in Scotland - there aren't enough landmarks!
Kelpie
Well-known member
Knowing exactly where you are, or where the plotter thinks you are, is over-rated.
On the way in to Soay harbour, SWMBO held us bang on the leading line as directed in the pilot book. Meanwhile I kept glancing at the plotter and was having kittens because it placed us about 50m to the west, on solid ground. That's the biggest charting/GPS error we've encountered but there have been others where we've been glad to have the pilot book to follow, and not just believe what the plotter told us.
On the way in to Soay harbour, SWMBO held us bang on the leading line as directed in the pilot book. Meanwhile I kept glancing at the plotter and was having kittens because it placed us about 50m to the west, on solid ground. That's the biggest charting/GPS error we've encountered but there have been others where we've been glad to have the pilot book to follow, and not just believe what the plotter told us.