Navigation Challenges - Post Your Craziest Chart and Let’s Talk

[aqfishing]

Always deeper on the outside of the turn?

[boatman61]

My experience in the ICW was very few buoys just random poles sticking out of the water or in some cases guessing where one used to be before someone ploughed it down with their stink pot..
Chotu, lucky you were on a cat.. a keelboat would likely have bottomed out pretty quick.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

It would help to reconcile your shots against Pandor's if you showed North; from the looks of it yours are west up. Clearly green 111 has been moved. Is there an NTM that refers to this? To my mind, you should have left 111 to stbd.

All of my shots have the same exact orientation. If the other persons didn’t, that’s on them. Not me.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by boatman61

My experience in the ICW was very few buoys just random poles sticking out of the water or in some cases guessing where one used to be before someone ploughed it down with their stink pot..
Chotu, lucky you were on a cat.. a keelboat would likely have bottomed out pretty quick.

Ha! Isn’t that the truth? You would not believe how many I have seen on this very long trip. So many of them are bent over at an angle from being hit.

One of them was so far over the sign was in the water and it was oscillating in the current. That was just before Saint Augustine going north. Next to a bridge

It was strange, a lot of people missed it. Several both went on the wrong side of it when they couldn’t see it. Usually you have to trust your eye, but in this case trusting the chart was better.

It’s probably best that I didn’t have a depth sounder. It would have been more stressful. Ha ha.

[Cthoops]

It’s not Skipper Bob (that’s someone else), it’s Bob423. If you’re going to run the ICW, get AquaMap to supplement the chart you’re using, and put the Army Corp of Engineers overlay on it.

Bob423 has tracks for the whole ICW that shows the deepest water, but unfortunately it has created a huge group of boaters who think they must not deviate from the track by one millimeter or the kraken will get them. However, his tracks are helpful for the small handful of truly tricky spots if you get there at low tide. That’s the only time we follow his track.

With no working depth sounder and no ACE survey or track, you’re highly likely to run aground at some point. Of course it’s only mud, so no big deal.

[leecea]

Do people distrust Navionics for the ICW? It shows the route for this area clearly in both Navionics and Sonar views. We have always used it on our phones as a backup of whatever charts are on the plotter. Plus you get the Active Captain comments.

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by Chotu

All of my shots have the same exact orientation. If the other persons didn’t, that’s on them. Not me.

Care to share that orientation? Since you are asking the forum's help.

[rslifkin]

In unfamiliar places I typically run with the navionics and NOAA charts both in front of me. That gets cross checked by my eyes. When things start to not match up, I go with best 2 out of 3. So if both charts agree but a buoy is missing, follow the charts. If one chart matches what I'm seeing and the other doesn't, follow the matching chart and my eyes.

And if something seems really vague or sketchy, stop and get more info like satellite views, Army Corps of Engineers data, etc.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by ranger58sb

US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Survey data. Available in AquaMap.

Looks like Pandor's survey image is from Waterway Guide.

I just reviewed our northbound track from Aug 2021. On the NOAA chart, North Up orientation (as in your pics), we hooked a "left" just after R112 on our port side, then we passed G111 to our starboard.

On the USACE survey chart, that would have been over depths of 9.6, 9.8, 9.4, 10, 9.1 respectively. (We would have been using AquaMap at the time... augmenting our Garmin and NOAA charts.)

Don't have log with me just now, so don't know whether we noted anything unusual or not.

-Chris

[Chotu]

Good Lord. I was trying to inject a little bit of fun into the forum. God forbid.

Only a few people seem to get that this was a thread for entertainment.


I’ve been running the ICW for 20 years now? Almost every year? Not my first day out here. It is boring as hell. Don’t really need advice or whatever. I was trying to have a little bit of fun with a weird looking chart and seeing what people would do in the same situation. I guess this was a fail. Nobody even posted other ones either.

That little part did not look like that on charts before I built the boat I surely would have remembered going through there my other 12 times if it did.

Carry-on criticizing and giving advice.

Or better yet? Why don’t you put up some interesting examples and make it fun in this thread?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

Care to share that orientation? Since you are asking the forum's help.

I’m not asking for your help.

Was trying to have a little bit of fun. Thanks for ruining it.


For the record, I don’t need any help whatsoever on the water. I did need help building a boat. That was unfamiliar. I have lived my whole life on the water. So no I don’t need help in this department. Thank you very much.

[requiem]

This is the quickest I could think of, from doing the clockwise loop around Alameda Island (North up, depth in feet). This final turn west towards the last bridge was a fun one, because there was just a clear expanse of water, no markers, and so only rough guesses when to make the turn.

(I don't think it really counts as a challenge though, since many do it and we did have a working sounder, but I'm more used to open water and I think it has silted up a bit in the three decades since the survey.)

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by ranger58sb

US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Survey data. Available in AquaMap.

Looks like Pandor's survey image is from Waterway Guide.

-Chris

Yes, I found AquaMap with the USACE and Skipper Bob’s (Bob423) tracks very valuable for navigating the AICW. I also used the Navionics app with SonarChart and the Navionics charts to be helpful.
The Navionics Auto-route function let me quickly estimate TTG: I can put a quick mark on the next bridge or lock and touch ""BOAT TO" to start the Autoroute, then I get a running ETA and I can slow the boat or push (if needed) to arrive 2-3 minutes before scheduled opening. While some bridges will wait until you're there (and hovering with about 100 yards) before opening, many will start the opening sequence beforehand if they see you less than a mile away and you tell them on VHF the exact minute you will arrive (e.g. 2:27PM). Saves fuel too.
Autoroute follows the bends whereas trying to do the same thing with other apps is tedious and slow. (Of course, I don’t blindly trust Autoroute for navigating).
Edit: I’m not in Chotu’s corner - I like to use all the information available, and would not condone running the ICW without a working sounder.

[Be Free]

Chotu,
In the spirit of fun and light hearted reply:


If I were running that portion of the ICW I would be under power, my center board and rudders up and I would be drawing 18" or less. I'd probably done what you did and take the outside of the bend, playing the odds.

[RaymondR]

Nah, that's not a shallow spot, the image shows a real shallow spot just near the B. Dries 2.5 metres (8.2')