Navigation software

[Hopefull]

Can anyone help, I'm trying to find a Nav system that will allow me to in put a start and finnish location and the software will then calculate the best course taking into account, tide, current and weather.

Thanks

[djmarchand]

And maybe raise the sails and tack the boat if necessary ;-).

David

[dan360]

:-) MaxSea does weather routing between two points. Its an optional extra and not cheap at 450 Euros on top of the software itself.

I like it though.

[robert sailor]

What does Max-Sea for the world cost these days?

[rockDAWG]

Originally Posted by djmarchand

And maybe raise the sails and tack the boat if necessary ;-).

David

Hopefully, the software will tell the boat to dodge the lobster or crab pots too. This will be the best piece of software engineering - some refer it the Captain.

[Hopefull]

Very good comments, do you really think it could change the sails and tack the boat !!
Now seriously, I have been looking at planning software so plan a route and enter waypoints. There must be some software out there that an take into account at least tide and current.

[nigel1]

There is this
NEPTUNE HOME PAGE

Best to contact them first to see if your area is covered

[dan360]

Max sea is not cheap, several K for the SW and charts, but does do routing:

MaxSea Routing

[rockDAWG]

Originally Posted by Hopefull

Very good comments, do you really think it could change the sails and tack the boat !!
Now seriously, I have been looking at planning software so plan a route and enter waypoints. There must be some software out there that an take into account at least tide and current.

If I am a software developer, it is not worth my affort to include these function in the program. It is just like you ask a microwave engineer to design a microwave for you in your boat to make a cup of hot water for your tea. Now you want want the microwave to deliver the hot water in a cup on deck. I would rather pick my legs and get my hot water and sugar and tea bag. While I am at it, I may as well get my coffee cake. I am just sayin'

Most if not all, the program includes tide and current build-in. So when you plan your passage, with you approximate arrival time, you can check you tide and current table and make a mental note in your head. IF you are going thru Hell Gate, yeah you check and double check. Some chart-plotters actually show the current flow and magnitude.

Engaging with our surrounding is part of the safety in cruising.

OF course, YMMV.

[jackdale]

Expedition does all that. It uses your polars and grib files along with embedded current data.

[Hopefull]

I guess the same comments came when the first GPS was offered to the purists, just use your sextant. I will check out Maxsea and expedition, thanks

[colemj]

Maybe some of the negative responders here have never made a passage longer than a few miles/hours where routing around weather systems and planning dynamic routes based on forecasted weather and currents (these change like weather in many areas and are not just a tidal phenomenon) is important and software that helps one to do that is a valid navigation and planning tool.

Using all navigation tools available is also part of the safety in cruising.

Mark

[conachair]

Originally Posted by colemj

Maybe some of the negative responders here have never made a passage longer than a few miles/hours where routing around weather systems and planning dynamic routes based on forecasted weather and currents (these change like weather in many areas and are not just a tidal phenomenon) is important and software that helps one to do that is a valid navigation and planning tool.

Using all navigation tools available is also part of the safety in cruising.

Mark

The tidal bit might be handy in some parts of the world. But I found playing around with the maxsea weather planning thing offshore wasn't a great success, the gribs are out of date so quickly and not completely accurate anyway it was much better to keep an eye on weatherfax and keep the boat happy. Maybe on a big budget boat with enough satphone dollars to download constant large gribs, but even then the prog is just reacting to the latest grib instead of you trying to have an informed guess about what the next low is going to do.

[jackdale]

I am just as happy looking at weatherfax every couple of days and getting a sense where the systems are, and then paying atttention to the barometer, clouds, and wind direction and speed.

The polars in the the Expedition program I had available for Turicum were based on race mode; we bring her home in cruise mode. In 2010, we had a starboard shroud replaced with wire after an accidental gybe at the end of the race, last summer the hydraulic backstay adjuster had been replaced by a turnbuckle after it started leaking during the race.

Expedition does not work really well any where near land as the terrestrial winds and counter currents are difficult of program into the software.

[estarzinger]

There are quite a number of programs that do this:

Adrena is perhaps the leader among the euro racers.
Expedition is the leader among the American racers.
MaxSea was one of the early players and leaders, but lost its edge when Furuno bought them.
There is an open source freeware program called virtual winds.
And there is an iPad app called weather 4d.

Essentially these all produce the same output route given the same input wind and current gribs. The first three are expensive, but do many things ther than just routing. Virtual winds is free and oes a pretty good job of routing, but that is all it does. Weather 4d is cheap, but so far is a bit clumsy.