Navigation

Colin and John have teamed up to share the fruits of some 70 years of combined radar use experience much of it in the foggiest (Atlantic Canada) and highest traffic (English Channel) areas of the world.

Navigating with tablets and phones is here to stay, but what are the dangers? And what can we do to make sure we don’t have an iThing-assisted wreck? Here are ten tips.

Colin has covered gear and preparation for navigating in fog. Now we get to the meat of it: what to do when underway and the visibility shuts down. Includes a vital section on the rules of the road in fog.

Never was the old axiom “proper preparation prevents poor performance” more relevant than when cruising foggy places. Colin gives us an in-depth check list to run through before we leave port.

Some of the best cruising grounds in the world are plagued with fog, so it pays to have the necessary gear as well as navigation and collision-avoidance skills—will make you safer at night too.

Colin starts off a three part series with an in-depth analysis of the tools to have when the visibility shuts down.

Here’s one simple tip that can save you a huge amount of grief…and possibly your boat:

Pretty much all of us rely on GPS, but have you every wondered how the thing actually works? Matt has the answers, and they are fascinating.

The loss of a yacht is both sobering and sad, but what we can do to gain something positive from the news is try to learn from what happened.

John answers a member’s question on what is the best sextant to buy and then looks at whether or not we voyagers even need one at all.

Marine electronics are great but they can also make you crazy. Here are some tips to keep you sane.

For many navigators the idea of going to sea without any paper charts aboard at all is pure heresy. But is that really true? Are we just hanging on to paper charts because we are stuck in our ways? Is there a viable all electronic backup?

Pretty near all of us are now using electronic navigation systems, that’s a given, but can you safely dispense with paper charts altogether?

What if your plotter dies, or the datum is way out on the chart against the GPS, or you are navigating an intricate passage? These are just a few situations when an accurate compass is vital.

The dangers of interfacing a boat’s autopilot and navigation plotter.