Quote:
Originally Posted by Ainsley
Hello... Does anyone have any experience of using the Visual Passage Planner CD Rom ? The one that contains NGA pilot charts etc. Is it a useful tool for offshore routing. I already have paper pilot charts but wondered if this product would really give me any more information than I already have. Thank you for your views. Smooth Sailing
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The CD Rom version is the same
software as the download version - except that the CD Rom version includes a user guide. The
software contain a database of historic
wind and
current patterns for the various months of the year. You can create a speed profile for your vessel based on type of
boat, size, polar plots (speed), etc. There are a number of other preferences you can set.
You plot a course and can then optimise the various legs based on a number of preferences. Based on your vessel's criteria, your preferences, relevant month and historic wind/current data, the software will then optimises your
route. It is quick and very effective which simply cannot be matched by manual
route planning. However, it must be remembered that the optimization is based on historic
wind data and not prevailing
weather patterns.
In addition to this, there are numerous reports you can print out containg a lot of useful data and detail. The sheer speed of route planning certainly makes this software very worthwhile and based on our usage, I can certainly recommend this software.