the big debate do you need a a paper backup?
James stevens
‘Yachtsmen don’t want to spend weeks in a classroom’
The RYA introduced electronic navigation into its syllabi over 20 years ago. Students on RYA shore-based courses are provided with specially commissioned paper and electronic charts with a simulated chartplotter which can be downloaded onto a home computer.
The RYA has always maintained that navigators should record their electronic position and verify it by another means. This check could be visual, depth, radar or at least a rough EP on a paper chart to check the electronic position is in the right direction and correct number of miles on from the previous one.
The RYA, realising yachtmen don’t want to spend weeks in the classroom, has introduced a short shore-based course which can be taken online giving just enough information on basic chartwork to make short passages using GPS.
At a higher level, Yachtmasters are examined on their ability to use both paper and electronic charts. They should be able to understand the functions of the plotter and, for example, enter waypoints as well as undertake traditional chartwork. A yachtmaster ocean is expected to navigate by GPS but can also obtain position fixes by sextant. l James Stevens is a former RYA Instructor and Chief Examiner
pete green
‘It is increasingly easy to bypass paper charts’ In the world of yacht delivery, we deal with a wide range of vessels, some better equipped than others. Our delivery skippers are used to carrying basic tools, nav equipment and sometimes even pots and pans. With the significant leaps in technology we’ve seen in the past decade, it is increasingly easy to bypass paper charts altogether. Most yachts have integrated chartplotters but we also use a back-up tablet running Navionics, not to mention the smartphone every crew inevitably carries with sailing software.
I do still carry paper charts but actually I can’t remember the last time I had to use them. The aviation industry has been relying solely on electronic cockpits for over 10 years now and I think the sailing community can easily follow suit. l Pete Green is a Yachtmaster Instructor, Ocean Yachtmaster and MD of Halcyon Yachts – International Yacht Delivery
norman kean
‘The concept of ‘a chart’ will become obsolete’
The paper chart is still the primary source of information from which leisure-market e-charts derive their data. But the paper chart is on the way out. I use e-charts all the time, but when I want to see the big picture, I reach for the paper. It’s literally a work of art. Every name, sounding and symbol on it has been chosen for inclusion by a human expert, with clarity as a high priority.
Maybe we’ll end up using raster charts. But screen size will still be an issue. Meanwhile, vector charts use ‘late rendering’ – your plotter doesn’t have charts in it, just data, and it draws the chart it thinks you want, on demand. That’s a pretty amazing feat of IT wizardry, but it ends up with bizarrely selected place names often in the wrong place, shallow spots with no actual sounding on them, islands and rocks that vanish when you zoom out and detail that gives a false impression of precision when you zoom in too much. Again, I reach for the paper.
The decline of paper will eventually make the concept of ‘a chart’ obsolete, and the world will be just one continuous data field. What an opportunity for a new generation of products that are fully fit to replace paper. But right now, leisure-market e-charts are just plain ugly. l Norman Kean is the editor of the Irish Cruising Club’s Sailing Directions
duncan kent
‘I wouldn’t choose to sail without basic electronics’
No matter how clever modern electronic navigation kit gets I still don’t rely on it entirely and certainly wouldn’t let it autonomously take control. I’ve been testing and using navigation instruments for nearly 30 years, so I know their capabilities and limitations. These days I wouldn’t choose to go sailing without at least some basic electronics, as it just makes life a lot easier, and in many respects safer. But I would never advocate anyone goes to sea entirely reliant on fragile electronics.
Digital cartography has improved considerably over the past few decades, as has the processing ability of multifunction displays (MFDS). Now it’s common to have tidal height and stream data loaded into the database and even an auto-routing function that can suggest a route from A to B for you, which can be helpful as a starting point for a passage plan. I often use this when planning, just to see how its recommended route differs from my own, manually deduced version. In many cases we agree, but when a tricky coastal sail is planned, I often find bits I’m not happy with.
To be fair, there’s a lot the MFD doesn’t know and therefore can’t compute, such as how my boat handles in certain seas, local knowledge about tidal rips, overfalls et al, and whether I have three experienced sailors on board or a few non-sailing friends. l Duncan Kent is an experienced sailor and technical feature writer and editor for numerous nautical magazines and digital publications worldwide.