Mr John On I-Pad Navigation

Chart Plotters are great and many people go zipping all over the place with them. I was brought up old school and never really trusted the stuff BUT. That never stopped me from using one when available. Navigation is a skill, not necessarily an art and certainly not an exact science. So, we never trust to just one source and we check the different sources against each other. In most cases this works but when all the chart data is way out, when the guy who did the last survey in 1855 had problems with his Sextant or, more likely, his Chronometer; what do you do? I didnt want a Chart Plotter, so we bought an I-Pad and downloaded the Navionics Program and charts on it. Its a cheap way to get Navionics!

We already had Open CPN with the CM93 charts and we had the Garmin Blue Charts, so this rounded off the collection and gave us some Back-Up security.

When I learnt to Navigate, we were into Marc St Hilaire, except for a few die-hards doing Long By Chron. There was Omega for the guys that had it all; in Europe we were doing Decca and in the US they had Loran....But all this fancy electronic stuff played second fiddle to a good set of stars! SO. When I tell you that the I-Pad is the greatest thing since Sliced Bread, well, you know where Im coming from.

First time around I was doing the Tuamotus with a Sextant, there was a great feeling of achievement when it all worked out.but looking back, I may have just been lucky. Certainly it was harrowing and nerve wracking and one was always glad to be well out at sea.

Things are different today, now we have Chart Plotters and we have this..

Surprisingly, we didnt go over any reef and we ended up anchored in fourteen feet of water on a wide stretch of beautiful white coral sand.

In many areas this sort of presentation will not tell you very much about the intended destination. I like the idea of knowing in advance what we are getting into

ENTER THE SATELITE VIEW

This, in my opinion, tells me what I really need to know. It would of course help if I knew the depths but with experience it is possible to have a good indication. Im using the App Google Maps on satellite view and the pre-installed App I-Maps on satellite view. I have to say; I have not yet found myself any noticeable distance from where my Blue Dot tells me I am. So, navigation made easy; all you have to do is drive the blue dot to where you want to be..

NOT QUITENOT THAT EASY

No matter what system you use, you have to maintain a continual watch where you are going and in areas where there are coral heads you should not be doing anything without good light, polaroids and the sun behind you.

The best thing about the Satellite view is that can expand your cruising area and present anchorages that you would not otherwise have thought of using. I spend hours looking at Google Earth and by the time I get to the location Ive been looking at, I feel I know it; it makes me feel more comfortable.

With the information presented on a Chart Plotter, I would never have visited this beautiful anchorage As it was, I truly believe we were the first sailing yacht to have ever entered this lagoon. In this age of overcrowded anchorages, the satellite view can give you an edge.

My system for navigation by Google is as follows: I look at the overview with Lat / Long grid and pick off the waypoints I want to use Interpolation may be necessary once I have my Google route planned, I transfer that to Mapsource

Mapsource is the Garmin program and here I can view it on the Garmin Blue Charts. I can also save it as GPX and transfer it to Open CPN to view / check on CM93

At this stage, you may notice that I have checked this route on three independent systems and if all three agree that we are not going over or close to a reef.. Then we are in with a chance!

So, having done those three things and having put the route in my Garmin GPS, I now make a new route, going on the same courses and put it into Navionics on the I-Pad.

This latter route is only a guide but should not disagree with what is in my GPS. NOW we are ready, we follow the course line on the GPS whilst in the cockpit we monitor the position on Navionics whilst occasionally flipping over to Google to make sure our blue dot isnt getting close to anything. We are not glued to any system at this point and most of our attention is on reading the water ahead and keeping a good lookout. You should in general route from Anchor to Anchor or from Berth to Berth I have to admit that I dont do this in reef navigation When Im looking for that little gap in the reef or weaving between bommies I like to have my full attention on where we are going and a continual eye on the depth.

All this electronic stuff is a guide but it can really help. Once you get started you can go into it in more depth, you can play with the cache and have the Satellite view even when off line. Not connected to the internet. Remember that you getting more accurate data when on line Then there are KapCharts where many satellite shots have been spliced together to make a seamless chart.. This is the future, where you will be able to switch between the satellite view and your chart at your plotter without being connected to the internet. Its here already but as yet it is limited. Right now Im happy driving my Blue Dot around on my IPad, which, in my opinion, has paid for itself many times over.

There are lots of other features you can use the I-Pad for.. I have a great tide program at the press of a button

The World Tides App

With the right bit of kit you can even have your AIS sent by Blue Tooth to your I-Pad. There is very little it wont do.. Considering the cost of an I-Pad against the cost of a Chart Plotter, Id go for the Pad every time. It encourages you to do careful navigation No one should be fooled into thinking they can buy a chart plotter and just drive down the line, thats one line on one bit of kit. If you do that youll come to grief someday for sure.. Enjoy your navigation and have a safe arrival. John Wolstenholme www.yachtmrjohn.blogspot.com