12 Electronic Navigation Tips From a Cruise on Someone Else’s Boat

Published Aug 27, 2019 64 comments Updated June 11, 2020

My temporary, but quite functional, navigation setup on Sable.

As most of you know, I just got back from a short single-handed cruise on a borrowed Hinkley 41 named Sable. I hadn't single-handed in a while, and it's years since I spent any appreciable time on a boat other than Morgan's Cloud.

During the last two days of our mini-cruise, we (Sable and me) transited the Reversing Falls and Saint John Harbour, crossed the very tidal Bay of Fundy, and made two tricky approaches—one to a strait where the tide runs at over four knots—all of it in fog and with plenty of traffic around to keep it interesting.

Definitely a good navigation work-out, particularly with unfamiliar electronics. And busy enough that I was well aware of the potential for an accident if I "lost the bubble" for even a moment.

Here's some stuff I did to make that less likely:

To continue reading login (scroll down) or:

Learn About Membership

Or

CLICK HERE to get to know us for free.

Book Chapter Navigation:

<< 10 Tips for Safe Navigation With Phones and Tablets

Marine Electronics System Recommendations >>

Meet the Author

John

John was born and brought up in Bermuda and started sailing as a child, racing locally and offshore before turning to cruising. He has sailed over 100,000 miles, most of it on his McCurdy & Rhodes 56, Morgan's Cloud, including eight ocean races to Bermuda, culminating in winning his class twice in the Newport Bermuda Race. He has skippered a series of voyages in the North Atlantic, the majority of which have been to the high latitudes. John has been helping others go voyaging by sharing his experience for twenty years, first in yachting magazines and, for the last 12 years, as co-editor/publisher of AAC.

64 comments… add one

≡ Menu
© 2002 – 2020 Attainable Adventure Cruising Ltd and the authors, all rights are reserved.

Nothing on this website or in direct communications received from us, or in our articles in the media, should be construed to mean or imply that offshore voyaging is anything other than potentially hazardous. Dangers such as, but not limited to, extreme weather, cold, ice, lack of help or assistance, gear failure, grounding, and falling overboard could injure or kill you and wreck your boat.

Decisions such as, but not limited to, heading offshore, where you go, and how you equip your boat, are yours and yours alone. The information on this web site is based on what has worked for the authors in the past, but that does not mean it will work for you, or that it is the best, or even a good way for you to do things.