Pilot books - are they necessary these days?

[Wanderlust Sail]

Hi there

My husband and I have just received our boat and about to embark on sailing the world. While it's extremely exciting it's also daunting about how much preparation and organising there is.

We have Garmin electronics on the boat and Navionics downloaded for off-line viewing on our iphones. We also plan to download Google Earth and cache areas we plan to visit and anchor along the way when we find wifi. With solar power and water maker we can be off-grid and will hopefully be anchoring most of the time rather than staying at marinas.

In this day and age with this kind of technology is there any use lugging around a ton of pilot books? We are starting on the Atlantic side of France and heading into the Mediterranean for 18 months. As we are moving between countries there are a lot of Pilot books we'd need to buy.

Is there an almanac or pilot book that does the Atlantic Europe, Mediterranean Sea plus Greece, Malta and Croatia?

Imray seem to be the most prominent with regards to Pilot books. Are there better types out there and has anyone downloaded Pilot books instead and have them on an iPad, laptop or Kindle (if they are available for download?)? Are these a better option and easy to read?

We are new to sailing so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks in advance for your information and help.
Warm wishes, Alex

[ReneJK]

Originally Posted by Wanderlust Sail

In this day and age with this kind of technology is there any use lugging around a ton of pilot books?

Hi Alex, welcome to CF
I would absolutely recommend Pilots for area's you plan to sail , electronic charts are fine to navigate (with paper charts) but they wont tell you anything else , like what the marina looks like, where/how to come in and where the best anchrages are , pilots do exactly that

Originally Posted by Wanderlust Sail

We are starting on the Atlantic side of France and heading into the Mediterranean for 18 months. As we are moving between countries there are a lot of Pilot books we'd need to buy.

Is there an almanac or pilot book that does the Atlantic Europe, Mediterranean Sea plus Greece, Malta and Croatia?

Not in a single pilot book , I recommend the imrays for most of the MED and 777 from Karl Heinz B for the Croatia side of the Adriatic


Get the pilots , they will prove to be very valuable , or get at least 1 (of teh area you start ) and compare the info thats is it with your Garmin plotter info

[Benz]

I have a real appreciation for pilot books, and though I've sailed places without them, I find that each one is worth far more than I spent on it. You can often find them used--you can trade them with cruisers heading the opposite direction. I've picked up a few in swap meets and marina book exchanges. But if you can't find a used one of an area you're going, I always think it's worth buying new.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Alex.

[Catapault]

In many instances, you can get away with an Almanac if there is one for the region you are sailing.

We just picked up the Mediteranean Almanac 2017, which covers Gibraler to Turkey, along with the one for Europe which covers most of the Atlantic seaboard from Bergen in Norway, to Gibraltar

However, whilst the Almanac has good info on the basics, (ports, lights, entry procedures, port high detail min-charts etc), I find the Pilots have a GREAT deal more information about what to see, where to go, and what someone that has actually been there thinks.

If your in the med, get the Imray books by Rod Heikel for the Areas you think you will cruise a lot, or want detail. If your're just "passing thru" on coastal passage, then the Almanac might be enough.


Even in this age of Electronic everything, (and I'm a nerd !), I like to also have paper charts, and paper Pilot books. There is something nice about sitting in the cockpit / helm and reading the pilot for the next stop.


IMRAY is a very good place to start, and the folks there are extremely helpfull.

Regards

Mark.
L450 F - Marmaris.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Wanderlust Sail

In this day and age with this kind of technology is there any use lugging around a ton of pilot books? We are starting on the Atlantic side of France and heading into the Mediterranean for 18 months. As we are moving between countries there are a lot of Pilot books we'd need to buy.

Don't know about other areas, but US Coast Pilot books are available in softcopy from NOAA. Maybe other countries make similar arrangements?

-Chris

[AiniA]

I think there is a bit of terminology confusion happening here. In North America coast pilots are books designed mainly for commercial shipping although they do include useful stuff for cruisers. In Europe, what is being called a pilot book would be called a cruising guide. As to their usefulness, I find them wonderful and well worth the expense. We noticed the difference when we cruised to regions of the world where there were no cruising guides available. In these cases we used things like SSCA notes (CA in Britain would be similar) along with cruising logs online.

The OP mentions Navionics on a phone. Don't think this will work very well because the screen is so small. You would be much better off using this data on an iPad or other tablet.

[Dockhead]

I think a well-run boat will have some kind of access to as complete information as possible for planning purposes.

Pilot books are not at all enough.

We use:

1. Reeds Nautical Almanac, up to date, for Atlantic Europe. A huge treasure trove of up to date information -- the single most useful resource for these waters. Available in electronic form, but I like to hold the book in my hand.

2. Cruising Association cruising guides, mostly in electronic form, and cruising information. Highly recommended. CA membership is cheap and worth its weight in gold.

3. VisitMyHarbour information for UK harbors. Outstanding resource and FREE.

4. Pilot books, not necessarily up to date. Just because it would be very expensive to keep them up to date, and the current information is better gotten from other resources.

5. Local harbor guides like the Swedish Gasthamn Guide, Danish guide to Western Baltic harbors, etc.

6. Other online resources.

7. Tidal stream charts

8. Other stuff I can't think of off hand.


I could do without a pilot book for an area I didn't spend much time in, maybe, if I had other information, like an almanac. But the pilot books give a lot of really, really useful information -- what's the best time to leave such and such a port, to catch the best tide to get to x? In what area are the charts unreliable? What is the local custom for such and such? What kind of moorings are there in such place? What anchorages to avoid? Which ports are ports of entry? What are discharge regulations? And a million useful tips.


Thorough planning is vital to safe and happy cruising in new areas. But planning is also FUN. Reading the pilot book for a new area is actually one of the funnest parts of cruising, for me. You don't actually need every pilot book for every small part of a larger area you are cruising through, but for Atlantic Europe and the Med, in my opinion,m you'll want at least Rod Heikell's general guide to the Med, and more focussed books on particular areas you plan to spend more time in, besides other resources such as those listed above.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Benz

I have a real appreciation for pilot books, and though I've sailed places without them, I find that each one is worth far more than I spent on it. You can often find them used--you can trade them with cruisers heading the opposite direction. I've picked up a few in swap meets and marina book exchanges. But if you can't find a used one of an area you're going, I always think it's worth buying new.

Yes. Most of my pilot books are out of date. Some of them were given to me by people updating them, others bought cheaply used. I must have 20 or 30 of them onboard, but I cruise through 10 countries or more every year.

Up to date ones are nice to have, and I do keep a few up to date ones of areas I spend a lot of time in. But you can usually get the current information from Cruising Association guides, almanacs, etc., and enjoy the pilot books for the information which doesn't change all that often. I often annotate them with updated or changed information.

[jdazey]

US Coast Pilots are available in digital format.

Cheers,

[Sandero]

Considering you have a cat... unless I am mistaken... you should have room and should carry old world printed reference materials... Hell yes! It's not a ton and in many ways printed material is easy to go thru then fiddling with digital screens. But if you were born with a screen in your hands like my grand daughters... maybe screens work better for you.

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by Wanderlust Sail

....In this day and age with this kind of technology is there any use lugging around a ton of pilot books? We are starting on the Atlantic side of France and heading into the Mediterranean for 18 months. As we are moving between countries there are a lot of Pilot books we'd need to buy....

Alex, in this day and age people get into trouble out there precisely because they did not prepare enough, and we all pay for their mistake.

Keep in mind that the technology you mention is useless when you cannot access it. Unless you'll be using a satellite phone to get internet access, you may not get it when you need it the most.

You'll be leaving in a liquid environment, the number one enemy of electronics.

Please have a Plan B and spend your money wisely - prepare for the worst to live for the best.

Best wishes and fair winds.

[Sandero]

This may be harsh.... if you had to ask that question from a sailing forum.... you are not prepared and have work to do.

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by Sandero

This may be harsh.... if you had to ask that question from a sailing forum.... you are not prepared and have work to do.

You are right, and we don't mean to be harsh... just real.

[kas_1611]

Books don't need batteries and can be a veritable treasure trove of information for planning your trips.

Our 2 Adriatic Pilot Books and our Cruising Guide have been well thumbed over the last 6 years along with various books on anchorages, restaurant guides and other printed matter.

Sure if you have interweb access you can get this information online but without a connection you could be, quite literally, lost at sea as to where to go or how to get in somewhere. Some extremely enjoyable evenings have been had tied up to a village harbour wall that we "found" in the pilot book.

We do keep an eye out for all sorts of maritime publications whenever we are in a marina and always get the free "Sailing Croatia" book every year published by More Magazines (in several languages). So books don't have to cost too much.

If anyone does know where you can get free PDF guides maybe they could share with the collective.

Keiron