[Public-List] [Member-List] More Free charts

[Roger L. Kingsland]

Hi Bob,

What a coincidence, I ran aground in the Wye River also.  I was over July
4th weekend in a Bristol 30 near G"3" in Wye East.  Like you, also not my
fault, the darn keel stuck down too far.

Best,  Roger 148

PS - Great advice on the charts; I have a DeLorme hockey puck GPS I use with
my street atlas software.  Do you think it would work with the Sea Clear
software or do you have to buy theirs? 


-----Original Message-----
From: public-list-bounces at lists.alberg30.org
[mailto:public-list-bounces at lists.alberg30.org] On Behalf Of Janet Kirk
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 3:39 PM
To: Alberg 30 Member List
Cc: A30 Public List
Subject: Re: [Public-List] [Member-List] More Free charts

At 11:25 AM 12/17/2009, Jim Davis wrote:
>Here is a new source of free NOAA charts.  These are Raster Scan, ENC 
>and booklet form.  Also available are Coast Pilots and Notice to Mariners.
>http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/staff/chartspubs.html
>
>Due to the size of these files I would not even consider using dial up.


Jim... Those free charts have been downloadable for several years, now. I
have used them on my laptop on a couple of cruises. A good thing about them
is that they are kept updated with the (near) latest Notice to Mariners, so
you can download new ones for your cruising area just before getting
underway. I use them with the elegant, free "Sea Clear" navigation software
and a hockey puck GPS input. I think the combination is better than the very
expensive chart plotters on the market. You get a real time display of your
position on an accurate, up to date chart. (That didn't stop me from going
aground in the Wye River, but that was operator error - my brother, of
course.)

The disadvantage is, you'd rather not have an expensive laptop out in the
cockpit in splashy weather, but run it inside the cabin or use a transparent
plastic chart case topside. You also should run the computer from an
inverter and AC power cord to preserve battery life. Finally, depending on
your laptop, the screen may wash out in bright sunlight. Time for a bimini.

Bob Kirk
Isobar 181




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