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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.