<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 5.50.4611.1300" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Has anyone set up an onboard Charting Program that
you actually use while sailing?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm talking about the type that runs on a computer
and displays charts and your boat location (from GPS input) in real time. The
type where the charts resemble actual paper charts.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If so, how and where do you have the computer
mounted? Can you work the program from the cockpit or do you have to go below to
work or even see it? If it's viewable or workable from the cockpit, is it
anywhere near safe from spray or rain? What program are you using and what do
you think of it?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have a friend with a sport fisherman who has a
laptop set up on his lower bridge. He is running a lite version of The CAPN
(captain) program and I was fairly impressed with the way he was able to follow
bottom contours while fishing.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>At the Atlantic City Show, I finally got a chance
to play with a Garmin 180 Chartplotter with a chip in it. I was disappointed
with the appearance of the "Chart". I use quotations in this case since it
doesn't even come close to resembling a real chart. Maybe, if the screen was
bigger, it would look better.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have always been a seat of the pants sailor, so
I'm not sure why this topic intrigues me so much. It seems like a big investment
to know that the shore is to port when I'm sailing to Block Island.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>On my return trip from Hopetown, Abaco, Bahamas to
Beaufort North Carolina, many years ago, I used a sextant and a quartz
wristwatch. All was going well for two days but then all of a sudden, my fix was
in the middle of Kentucky! I just kept heading Northwest until I spotted the
coast, and then followed the coast until I found some buoys to locate myself. It
worked, and I was fairly close to Beaufort at landfall. Now, (with SA off) my
GPS tells me where I am within a few feet and I now sort of want it to show me
pictures too. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Progress or older age? I wonder.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks for any related input</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>Brian
Free Spirit
A30 #497</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>