WHY BOTHER?

I could have started the engine when the wind died to crack on and arrive early and chance it with the tide, or I might have put off making a decision until it was almost too late and then ended up having to use full engine power to get in, or yet worse, missed the arrival window completely. Now I know that I could have monitored the distance to run on my chart plotter, and repeatedly made the calculations

to check if I was going to make the arrival window or not, and if not, work out what speed I needed to be making.

However, if like me, you don’t want to be doing maths in the middle of the night but do want to be able to make an informed decision whilst on passage then this method can give you all the information required at a glance. Time spent planning is never wasted and being able to summarise the key facts onto a single sheet is such a great idea, and is why I was so impressed when John first showed it to me. The bit I find hard to understand is why it is not taught more widely.

There is no handbook that I am aware of, but then I am not sure that it is required as it is all quite straightforward. You can customise your graph so it’s clear to you and includes all the factors that matter for a particular passage. The graph shown in Fig 4 was copied from my original pencil version on blue lined graph paper, but I will be taking some pre-printed sheets with me when I return with Mollymawk to Scotland this coming season.

As an effective all-round passage planning tool I have yet to see better, and what’s more, there are no batteries, no compatibility issues, and no cost.