I don’t listen to a lot of Podcasts because I generally find I can learn more in less time from written articles.
That said, my friend Andy Schell is way better at podcasts than most, so a few times a year I break out some time for one of his.
Andy, together with one of his partners at 59 North, August Sandburg, just did one on electronic navigation. I think it’s one of the best looks at the subject I have heard. Highly recommend.
And that recommendation is not just because Andy gave me a shout out (thank you)…but it might of helped…maybe…a little.
Anyway, a few things I took away:
- Free standing radars are the best option when venturing into challenging places with poor visibility.
- We should not get overly dependant on overlaying radar on charts, real plotting is the way to go for collision avoidance.
- Wifi based navigation systems can go bug-shit on us at the worst possible time and be challenging to fix, so we better have an alternative ready to go.
- Tablets are not that functional in cold wet places.
- Both Andy and August, like and use TZiBoat, my favourite tablet navigation app.
- That said, the best charts you can get for the area you intend to cruise should often be the number one criteria when choosing a navigation system.
- Crowd sourced depth data can be highly suspect.
- Orca’s mounts and induction charging are one of the systems best features1.
- Orca have done a great job of making their touch screen work with gloves on, and that’s not trivial.
- Plotters still have a place…even if Andy2 doesn’t think so, right August?
- Andy and August really need to try a computer for navigation and weather. You guys don’t know what you are missing3.
Whatever side you are on in the great, plotter, tablet, or computer debate, you will learn good stuff from Andy and August. I did.
Further Reading
- And no, there are not any other products that can do that, at least that any of us AAC members could find, despite several false alarms. Yup, I was surprised too. ↩︎
- Couldn’t resist. Actually, I’m kinda down on plotters too. ↩︎
- Sorry Andy, I always gotta get the last dig in, you know that. ↩︎