For cruisers it is pretty much ubiquitous that that paper charts are “mostly” taking a back seat to the myriad number of electronic devices to keep you knowing where you are. In addition, these devices allow you to go places where it would be considered pretty sketchy unless you had local knowledge of the area. That doesn’t mean you should only rely on electronics. Your eyes and the ability to read a compass with charts is a skill that needs to be retained.
Also, weather routing is another thing that technology can supplement and lift the veil on what can be expected during passages and what is the best path to take and when to actually leave the dock to begin your journey.
With that, this is how Utopia gets around and plans trips. I sort of breezed through it all since there were so many items. I might do a deeper dive into some of the items if people are interested.
Navigation
Chart Plotter
The main navigation item that Utopia has attached to the binnacle is a Chartplotter. We have a Raymarine Axiom 9+ with Navionics Charts installed. In addition to the charts, we have AIS, wind data, depth, auto pilot control, radar, speed (GPS and through water) and other data networked to show up on the Chart Plotter. We have standalone instrument panels for all these items but showing up the actual navigation scree is a good heads up view all your location needs. The chart plotter is very flexible and has pretty much all the data you need.
With all Chartplotters we can set waypoints and Routes and the chart plotter will happily steer your boat to those points. It goes without saying you should not do this in a busy seaway but under passage it is very common not to touch the helm for hours at a time and just let the autopilot steer.
Paper Charts
Paper charts (for good or for worse) are becoming less and less common. In fact, NOAA has pretty much stopped producing these and going fully digital. Having said this, having and knowing how to read the symbolism is something I still think is important. charts (at least large scale) are a good back up incase your electronics go out. NOAA has a chart called US Chart No. 1 which is pretty much a key on how to read paper (and electronic) charts. It’s invaluable and is always in our navigation table.
Computer
In addition to the chart plotter, we have an open-source software called OpenCPN. We have charts for most of the world on our laptop and we also have a USB GPS puck that plugs into our computer. With that we can use the laptop just like a chart plotter (minus controlling the autopilot and some of the data). Since it’s on the computer some of the route creation is really easy since you have a mouse and keyboard to create paths quickly.
Compass
Like paper charts, being able to use a compass for navigation is a talent you should know. Combining charts, a pencil, straight edge, protractor, and a compass you can get a fix where you are on a chart without the assistance of a chart plotter. It might be old school but coastal cruising where you can take a fix off of a building or water tower (since it would be show on a chart) is a fun way to hone your skills.
iPhone and iPad
All smartphones and a lot of iPads have built in GPS. That means there are more apps you can shake a stick out that you can pretty much use as a chart plotter. When we brought Utopia across the gulf our old chart plotter gave up the ghost, so we used our iPad since we have the Navionics app on the tablet. It works flawlessly.
Garmin InReach
Even if every electronic item on the boat goes out, we still have a Garmin Inreach. This doesn’t have any charts, but it does give us Latitude and Longitude which would be simple to transpose to a paper chart and discover your location.
Sextant
With so much technology the chance of you not having a way to determine your location is almost an impossibility. By my count we have 7 GPS on board that can determine our location. Having said this, knowing how to use a sextant (which I do not know) seem like something I would like to teach myself at some point. This is pretty much a view glass that measures angles to the horizon of the sun and stars. That with an accurate time piece you can determine your latitude and longitude anywhere on the globe. If I get a sextant and actually figure out how to use it, I will let you know.
Weather Routing
So what is weather routing? This is the evaluation of weather and wind forecast to determine when to leave on a passage, and the best route to take based on present and future wind. You can do this by hand with a lot of research but there are lots of software packages that can do this for you and look at multiple scenarios and save you a lot of time.
Open CPN and QtVlm
I touched on OpenCPN before regarding navigation but it (and another piece of software called QtVlm) will also assist you in weather route planning. You can enter your sailboat characteristics, (called polars) and upload several days of wind data (called Gribs) and it will lay out a route that is the best route for that forecast. You can also enter in things like minimum boat velocity before you turn your engine. By using this and timing your departure you can predict when you will arrive at your destination. The best thing about theses software is that it is free. The worse is it’s a bit complex to figure out the first time you use it.
Predict Wind
Predict Wind is a paid subscription that does what QtVlm does but is much more user friendly and does all the data gathering for you. It interfaces seamlessly with Satellite internet like Iridium go and due to the small file sizes will allow you to download and update your routing on a daily basis. We don't actually have this but might be smoothing we look at in the future.
Fast Seas
Fast Seas is similar to Predict Wind, but they do allow you to use it 5 times a month free, so I have played with it somewhat. It is very easy to use.
Windy
Windy is a web-based platform that you can see on your computer or smart phone. There is a free version, but I use the premium version since it has a myriad amount of data from wind, current, tides, weather radar and forecasts that is a great one stop shop for weather. I highly recommend it.
Radar
We have a Raymarine Quantum 2 radar. This is what I would say is short term weather routing. The radar is projected onto the chartplotter, and it allows you to track storm cells and it will compute its path and how close it will be to cross your path. This allows short-term bearing modifications so to go behind or in front of the system while minimizing impacts. The range for our radar is about 24 miles so it’s plenty of time to avoid a system (if it is avoidable that is).
Pen and Paper
This is the low-tech way of weather routing. It’s a mix of listening or reading weather forecast, laying out your path/waypoints and estimating time of departure. It’s entirely doable without technology but it just takes a bit of time. And the output is the quality of your handwriting 😊.
Well that's it on Navigation and weather routing. I felt like I just barely touched on this but my goal is always keep the reading time 5 minuets or so. If you have any questions please drop me a line.
Next on the boat system series is our electrical system. Stay tuned!
23-39
Comentários