NOAA Stops Printing Nautical Charts

[Julie Mor]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

Paper charts today are like LORAN-C was in 2010. See Ya

“LORAN-C was a ground-based navigation system operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. In 2009, the President declared the system obsolete and terminate it in 2010.”

That was my fault. In 1994, we were sailing from the Bahamas to Florida when a storm blew through and knocked out our LORAN-C. Once ashore, I sent a letter to the President and told him the LORAN was useless. It just takes our government a while to act.

BTW, we were okay because I had our position marked on a paper chart.

[smaarch]

thanks for this

Originally Posted by Stumble

Not true since at least 2002, when the USCG promulgated a rule accepting a ECDIS as a replacement for paper charts. See
http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/s..._FRAUG2002.pdf
http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/s..._FRJUL2004.pdf

Which states in part...

if a ship has an approved ECDIS installed according to chapter V (SOLAS), the ECDIS will be considered by the Coast Guard as meeting its nautical chart regulation in 33 CFR 164.33(a)(1), because the ECDIS meets the same navigational safety concerns as do paper nautical charts. This policy benefits the ship owner and operator by relieving them of the need to unnecessarily duplicate equipment.

[avb3]

Originally Posted by Randy

That really wasn't the point of Cotemar or my posts but I'd like to discuss it with you in one of those other threads if you'd like. The courts have made things fairly definitive.
The chartplotter can be useful in getting to that point of situational awareness that I talked about but the paper charts aren't going to inhibit that either. Staring at a chartplotter rather than understanding your place in the traffic pattern by looking around yourself and dealing with it will cause a lot of problems. I don't get the fear of paper charts nor the fascination with electronic gadgets (I use both).

Your right. Discussing it here sidetracks this thread. If you have not read the discussion on COLREGS here is the thread... It is long.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ay-111980.html


I fully agree that situation awareness is the primary safety factor one needs to use. That includes using all the tools available.

[SV Maclas]

We have always been able to easily find aftermarket chart sets to use as a back up to an iPad. I still enjoy looking at a large map to get the whole picture view of where we are and where we are headed.

[Celestialsailor]

I always love how this turns into an argument of charts vs. plotter. Lets talk "Navigational aids". Chart plotter, Charts, Radar, AIS, Depth sounder, Compass...
They are all useful. But to mock a person for having one and not another is nothing more than dockside sailing. Like Eric, I have a simplified system that if one fails, I have \backups. I even have a C.Plath Navigator Classic Sextant. Will I ever have to use it?...doubtful. But it is fun to have. I have recently installed Open CPN on my laptop and downloaded a mess of free charts. Financially speaking, I do not have the bells and whistles to cross link all of it. Frankly not interested.
So to create a scenario of what if you're in a 50kt. blow, 8 freighters are a bow to beam bearing on you and a 747 is going to short land on your stern is just silly. I've been in fog, in the dark, in a shipping area. My chart showed the shipping lanes, my radar occasionally showed moving shapes and I knew were the shallow water was.
...and by the way...Although NOAA has stopped printing doesn't mean charts are unavailable. Navigation shops print them and I'm sure will for some time to come. It was probably a cost saving move on NOAA's part.