The key to confident pilotage

Here’s me piloting through the rocks at the southeast corner of Jersey. This isn’t as difficult as the chart makes it look, but it’s a classic example of the benefits of GPS-assisted paper navigation. The wonderful, economic, iPad and Navionics system delivers the greatest breakthrough in pilotage in my lifetime. It’s in my hand in the cockpit and it shows me exactly where I am.

However, nothing is for free and it suffers from the endemic problem of many vectorbased charting systems: its presentation isn’t as intuitive as a paper chart. Plus, of course, no plotter screen is ever big enough to deliver the overview we need in this sort of scenario. I’ve found the best answer is to pilot on a good old Imray or Admiralty paper chart and use the plotter to confirm where I am. The confidence boost is terrific.

I always use paper charts, and GPS-enabled vector charts, together

I couldn’t find a cooker with a decent fiddle so I had one made for me. Works a treat!