Are paper charts as a backup still necessary?

[belizesailor]

I keep a pretty complete set of paper charts for the region I typically cruise (W Carib) and then I put together a "NAV PACK" for any significant passages. This includes a list of signficant waypoints, related navigation notes, and printed harbor chartlets (from digital charts). I also keep a log while underway.

With this and basic nav tools I can at least get myself to the next port of call with no electronics.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Believe me, when I was winding my way through three weeks of thick fog up in Maine last July, I wasn’t plotting a course using a compass and paper chart. I was staring down at a modern chartplotter with radar overlay while my wife and friend were looking out.

If the chartplotter had failed, I would’ve quickly picked up and used one of the eleven other chartplotting devices onboard. Paper would’ve been useless.

Not useless. Just a hell of a lot more work. You forget the days when being a navigator on a cruising boat was a very time consuming position. In coastal fog you continually updated on the paper chart your Dead Reckoned position using your course steered estimate and boat speed, along with any current or leeway estimates. Then you eventually bumped into something that gave you a fix or allowed you to obtain a running fix. Then restart the DR course.
Chartplotters and continuous GPS fixes are so much easier and less error prone.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Not useless. Just a hell of a lot more work. You forget the days when being a navigator on a cruising boat was a very time consuming position. In coastal fog you continually updated on the paper chart your Dead Reckoned position using your course steered estimate and boat speed, along with any current or leeway estimates. Then you eventually bumped into something that gave you a fix or allowed you to obtain a running fix. Then restart the DR course.
Chartplotters and continuous GPS fixes are so much easier and less error prone.

The fisherman and pleasure boaters of yesteryear wouldn’t have gone out on days as foggy as the ones we encountered along the coast. There’s no way they would’ve depended on dead reckoning and paper charts, our electronic are what got us through. I know because I date badk to those days.

[2savage]

Charts are great. But when you are running blind (fog, dark etc) the ancient skills kick in. Reefs and shoals can also be read by looking at the water. The proximity of land can be gleaned by looking at wave patterns, sensing air coming off the land and looking at the sky for anomalies.


Using these methods a land approach can be much safer so long as you can see the signals and read them correctly. That said, charts are good!!!!

[2savage]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I date back to those days.

I remember when LORAN was high tech!!!

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

The fisherman and pleasure boaters of yesteryear wouldn’t have gone out on days as foggy as the ones we encountered along the coast. There’s no way they would’ve depended on dead reckoning and paper charts, our electronic are what got us through. I know because I date badk to those days.

In the UK thats when we in the know call the Coast Guard on the VHF as the sounder tells us we are closing the coast round the 20metre mark.
Bored Coasties get a kick out of triangulating ones position and guiding one in off season...
In season your a pain in the ass..

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

The fisherman and pleasure boaters of yesteryear wouldn’t have gone out on days as foggy as the ones we encountered along the coast. There’s no way they would’ve depended on dead reckoning and paper charts, our electronic are what got us through. I know because I date badk to those days.

Come on, there were plenty of times where boats, especially fishermen and unfortunate cruisers, who were out in days of soup fog. I could bore you with a few hair raising stories.

[Kelkara]

radar is the game changer in fog not GPS. I was on a boat in Greenland once, narrow rocky channels choked with icebergs, thick fog ... radar and local knowledge, no problems ... the skipper didn't keep a single chart on the boat.

[Cpt Pat]

How lost will you be without your electronics?

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by salfarina

Unfortunately, they grounded hard on an underwater dyke that extended 3 miles out from where they intended to anchor. This obstruction did not appear as such on their electronic chart plotter chart, but was clearly indicated on the paper chart.

Kim and Jeff - if you're reading this - best of luck!!

They say in the blog:

While it was more obvious on the paper chart, it was not at all clear on the chart plotter where I had zoomed in.

FWIW, it's readily apparent on the four e-charts we routinely carry: NOAA raster, NOAA vector, C-MAP vector (in Plan2Nav), and Transas (iSailor). At all reasonable scales (zoom levels) near as I can tell.

I wish them well, too.

-Chris

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Kelkara

radar is the game changer in fog not GPS. I was on a boat in Greenland once, narrow rocky channels choked with icebergs, thick fog ... radar and local knowledge, no problems ... the skipper didn't keep a single chart on the boat.

Yep, but back in the preGPS days I didn't have Radar either.

[Dockhead]

This is an interesting question which will get a variety of different opinions.


In my opinion, chart plotters (and I-Pads) are NOT suitable at all for navigation. We've discussed the reasons in detail elsewhere, but you can't get a big picture without loss of detail, so you just can't do serious chart work, on such devices.


Like some who've posted here, I love paper charts for proper chartwork, but at a certain point it gets to be really hard, and maybe impossible, to carry enough paper charts to cover a wide cruising area. I have paper charts stuffed under every bunk on my boat, but I gave up years ago trying to have paper for the 10 or so countries' waters I sail through every year. The problems are space to store them, cost, and what is neglected by everyone I know that tries to rely on paper charts -- UPDATING them, without which you're not legal or responsible.


So I use a large high def monitor and OpenCPN, with updated and legal raster charts, on a 12v computer mounted in a protected out of the way location, with multiple backups of the hardware and the software.


I have out of date paper charts for many of the places I sail, which I use for some kind of planning tasks, and as a kind of backup, but in general, I don't think the risk of losing the ability to read an electronic chart, is greater than the risk with paper charts. Paper charts blow away or get spoiled by water.


Chart work on OpenCPN is not as good as with paper, but it's pretty good on a large monitor. But what's really nice is that you can keep 1000 charts instantly at your fingers, and keep them updated. Storage and updating of electronic charts is absolutely brilliant.

[billknny]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

So I use a large high def monitor and OpenCPN, with updated and legal raster charts, on a 12v computer mounted in a protected out of the way location, with multiple backups of the hardware and the software.

Dockhead,

How and where do you get "updated and legal" electronic copies of raster charts for countries other than the USA? I have always found that a challenge...

Bill

[leftbrainstuff]

All power dies, water gets into electronics, latent defect appears at an inconvenient time... This never happens right?

Of course paper charts are useful. As a backup and for general pre passage planning. They are also useful for browsing before and during a passage.

They are also useful for identifying variations between chart sources. Of course you then need to determine which is more correct or less correct.

But I certainly don't prescribe to the argument that paper charts are superior to electronic charts. Paper charts, in general, are being updated less often by many hydrographic agencies.

In many cases generally available data (google maps, satellite images, crowd sourced location specific data, etc) are more accurate especially after major weather events.

Like engineering models all are wrong but some are useful. Dame goes for charts.

We have
Navionics
Ipad
Google maps
Openstreetmaps
Paper charts, old and new
And finally we have our eyeballs for when all else fails

[Nicholson58]

We have Simrad chart plotter and backup IPAD with Navionics. There are also a couple of other devices with ASI that display lat-long. We never travel without paper as well. I suggest you look for the chart books for the regions you plan to sail. They take way less space and lie flat. The books are typically 18 X 24 and cover large areas with many close in details for ports. NV chart books for the Caribbean. Several options for the US. I prefer Maptec. Often you can get a discount at boat shows or make a good find on Amazon.