ARC skippers reveal how they navigate
Andras Bakody from Hungary, onboard EH01
We have a sextant and paper charts on board as well as a chartplotter and nav software. Every day we plot a fix on a paper chart but it’s more for fun – a memory, so at the end of the trip everyone can take a photo. We have so many electronic backups that really there’s no need for paper charts. We have a Raymarine C120 chartplotter but use a laptop screen to run the nav software. It’s much more user-friendly and gives you a variety of options, such as race software. As for power, if our batteries failed, we have powerbanks to keep our phones and ipads running, and would use these to plot our position. We’d also use the compass and go back to basics.
olav sagen from norway, onboard Charlie
We use a B&G display for our charts and AIS but we also have paper charts for emergency navigation. I probably shouldn’t say this, but we rely a lot on the Navionics app on our phones. It’s very easy to use – you can have it next to you whilst you’re cooking or doing another task.
Very often we use both, but the chartplotter isn’t correct everywhere and neither is the app. We had an interesting case in the Netherlands: we could sail an extra four hours around a headland or take a 15-minute passage through a strait. Neither options were especially safe – there were big swells around the headland and shallow sea, so we decided to follow the marker buoys through the passage. These were telling us something different to the Navionics and the B&G.
We said, ‘OK, we have to trust the cardinals. When the ground moves, they move the cardinals.’ We counted on them and ignored our charts. It was the right decision. Had we relied on our electronics, we might not have had the same outcome.
doug guthrie from scotland, onboard Oran Mor
I was on a boat a few years ago and we were hit by lightning. We lost all the electronics, the charts, the engine, the computer – everything – so we had to navigate into Saint Tropez using just an iphone. We always have a phone as backup and carry paper charts.
On this boat, I tend to plan 12 hours ahead using a Raymarine chartplotter. It’s 15 years old and came with the boat. I’m quite happy with it. I’ve upgraded the charts to Navionics, the same ones on my phone so that works well, and we upgraded our AIS network so it’s overlaid on the chart and can repeat to an ipad in the cockpit, which we keep in a waterproof case. Before, we were going down below a lot to check it at night, which made us seasick. We use Predictwind on the Iridiumgo! (satellite hotspot device) and that’s what we also use for our tracker, so people can link to us and we can update Instagram.