Andy Barnes talks about `electronic' navigation and `Navionics' and whether we should really trust it - often a hot topic of conversation. Andy is Academy Sailing's Chief Instructor.
I think it makes me sound old when I talk about how I navigated in the 1990's and early `naughties'. We didn't have chart plotters on the boats I was working on. We actually used paper charts and paper tidal graphs on a daily basis. We didn't have smart phones to help us with these tasks, or for looking up accurate sailing orienated weather forecasts. This wasn't our reality!
Anyone who joins sailing groups on Facebook will find people with strong views on the subject of digital vs paper charts. Most people are actually fairly balanced in their thoughts on the matter, but there are some who bawk at the idea of relying on electronic navigation. What happens when the batteries go flat? What happens when satellites give eroneous position fixing? What happens when the data is just wrong? Those are all good questions, and ones you should be able to answer for yourself when and if you decide to use technology in place of paper charts.
I'm really keen to point out that I am a fan of technology - I enjoy using good tech. It is fair to say that anyone who knows me as an instructor knows that I am thorough when it comes to making sure that people know their stuff and that they are safety conscious. I want people to understand what's going on rather than relying on tech and not knowing why something works and importantly where things can go wrong. So I care about giving people the right knowledge and for me that means people being able to use paper charts.
But with all of that said, as long as people have that knowledge, then for me, using digital charts as the primary source of chart navigation is fine. In recent times, the RYA has moved to a position whereby accredited training centres such as Academy Sailing are encouraged to teach people to use chart plotters and apps such as Navionics as a means of navigating. The fact is that GPS and digital charts are almost always highly accurate and reliable. There are some provisos but these are easily catered for.
I would never advocate relying on only one digital device. But if you look at Academy Sailing's yacht Dream Odyssey, on board you will find two Raymarine Axiom 9 colour chart plotters, an iPad with Navionics (with in-built GPS and Glonnas chip), two iPhones with Navionics (with same chips), an Apple Mac running OpenCPN charts from a GPS chip, and then VHF handheld devices with their own GPS chips in them. All have multiple ways of being charged and so there is no way we will ever lose power to all of these devices.
The other really important point to make, whether you are using paper charts or digital charts is that once people know how to navigate properly, the chart is only one of a number of sources of navigational information that should all be being used together by the navigator to inform them of where the boat is, where it's going, and whether it is safe. That's because it is possible for GPS to provide an inaccurate position and I have experienced that myself. The other sources of navigational information include the human eye - looking to make sense of the surroundings for visual clues, looking at depth and how it is changing, looking at the main compass course, using a handheld compass for bearings and clearing lines, and correlating this with speed and time to estimate position. On top of this we have radar - which is excellent for fixing a position. Dream Odyssey even has a sextant on board. And then beyond all of this, everyone on board carries a GPS enabled smartphone!
Good record keeping is still important to track progress - and to an extent some of this can be recorded digitally, although I do personally keep a paper logbook updated. Dream Odyssey does also have paper charts on board. We are required by law to do so as a commercial vessel. But large ships with certain types of certified electronic chart systems now don't need to carry any paper charts whatsoever. So the question of whether leisure sailors carry paper charts is down to the individual. Personally, as long as I had multiple devices and kept good records then I wouldn't worry about paper charts in many cases.
So my view is that 'electronic' navigation can be trusted and at Academy Sailing, we now include its use on our courses. We know that this is what people need to be using in the real world, so we make sure that by including it, we show our students how to use it properly. The feedback is nothing but positive and we believe our courses are all the better for it.
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