Online Book: Navigation and Marine Electronics

We start this book by looking at the most important aspect of good and safe navigation. More important than fancy electronics. More important than paper charts. More important than radar. Situation awareness—knowing where you are at all times.

Sure, electronic charts are great, but we should never assume that every cool-looking feature is also great, some of them are dangerous.

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

Sure, electronic navigation is great, but blindly relying on it, and on those who develop plotter software, could put us on the rocks.

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

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?

John has decades of navigation experience, much of it in fog, but there is always more to learn, particularly when single-handing an unfamiliar boat.

Up to this point in this Online Book we have been writing about good navigation practices. Now let’s turn our eyes to the cool electronic toys we all love. And since I’m an electronics technician by trade and have spent most of my working life in high tech fields this is going to be leading edge stuff and way cool!

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

When radar really matters, what unit should you buy? John has the answer based on 30 years of radar experience, much of it in places where reliable radar is vital.

How do we decide between the three options for electronic navigation? John provides a logical framework to make that easier.

Many voyagers worry most about ocean passages but, in fact, the dangers are far higher on a coastal passage. Colin, who has made countless passages along one of the most challenging coasts anywhere, is eminently qualified to guide us through the coastal passage planning process.

In the first chapter in this five part series, Colin shared his overall planning process. He now moves on to a more detailed look at the features that almost always control how we approach and execute a passage: headlands and capes.

In Parts 1 and 2, Colin shared how he plans for a complex coastal passage. Now he puts all of that into practice and in the process shows us that there is no one right way, but rather we must always be flexible and exercise good judgement.

When last we left Colin and his crew at the end of Part 3, they had just crossed the Celtic Sea and finessed both the tide at Lands End and and their Landfall in Ireland—all good results based on the planning that Colin covered in Part 1 and Part 2. Now, in Part 4 they make some early starts and bring Scotland in sight.

In the final part of Colin’s series on coastal passagemaking, he and his crew cross to Scotland and wend their way through beautiful, but challenging, tidal straits to the finish. Colin then provides us with a succinct summary of the lessons learned, winding up a series that provides all of us the tools to plan and execute even the most difficult passages in a seamanlike manner.

Sure, we all like a snug sheltered anchorage but when we are trying to make the miles in a hurry using a less sheltered passage anchorage can save a bunch of time and distance. Colin shares how to pick a good one and the precautions to take when we decide to anchor out there.

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.

It’s great to have radar, but if we don’t know how to plot other vessels it won’t keep us safe from collision. Here’s how to use radar right.

In the last chapter Eric covered plotting, now he explains what course changes to make to avoid collisions, as well as to reduce the stress of getting too close to another boat.