Don’t blame the chart table
I am unversed in the intricacies of chartplotters but I find Craig Hardy’s explanation/excuse for three very expensive catastrophes, which in one case was fatal, to be somewhat glib. All three accidents occurred at night when the scope for detecting hazards must have been very limited. Presumably they were all unlit. For the crew to detect an issue on account of a change in the wave motion is a tall order, and then it would be very difficult for a skipper to alter course of a powerful yacht travelling at speed when he must have had little idea of the hazard ahead.
Surely the root cause was that the skipper seemed to have little idea of his course over the ground. To blame the size of the chart table as an excuse is nonsense. Why was he not charting his position on paper charts and what would have happened in the event of an electronic failure? David Biddle
Craig Hardy responds: I agree with David’s response regarding the difficulties of detecting dangers to navigation, particularly at night. My argument that using a chartplotter as a ‘lookout tool’ is surely supported by David’s arguments. People do make mistakes. What we need to focus on is measures to ensure that a mistake does not lead to a catastrophe by having backup systems in place.