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Topic: General trip-planning discussion
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Andrew Wallace
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posted June 14, 2005 07:32 AM
I'm planning a cross-Atlantic trip for July. Departure: Charleston, SC. Destination: West coast of Scotland. I might also want to put in at St. John's, Newfoundland.
I've been using the course materials (and various other sources) to help me select which charts and reference materials I'll need, but there's so many of them. Pilots, Sailing Directions, Light Lists, Tide Tables, hundreds of Charts.
Is there a resource which will help me narrow it down? I don't want to have to purchase all the charts of the U.S. East coast, but would like to have them just in case I need to put in somewhere unexpectedly. But that's a lot of charts and a lot of money.
For Europe I want light lists and Tide Tables and some general advice as well, not to mention charts.
Any advice to help me sort all this out? Thanks Andrew
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David Burch
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posted June 14, 2005 04:04 PM
the first questions are: sail or power and next will you have a computer on board? a lot of the required back up references can be in electronic format... also many of these are free downloads. Without that option, on a long trip like yours the nav references can add up to more than the price of a computer!
let us know these answers, and we will go from there... and i agree, this is always a big issue to sort out for a long trip. there are several options.
Also, if using a computer do you aleady have an echart program, and if so, which one?
From: Starpath, Seattle, WA
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Andrew Wallace
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posted June 16, 2005 10:44 AM
I'll be sailing across solo aboard my CSY 37 sailboat... I do have a laptop but I will not be using it for navigation.
Below is a list of resources I've already ordered from Bluewaterweb. I already have the Macmillan Reed's for the West Coast of the UK. I will also be ordering Canadian charts, and charts of the Scottish and Irish coasts.
Does my list look complete?
Other references I'm hoping to find is something to help me with my SSB Receiver. Not weatherfax - I just want to be able to listen to weather forecasts along the US East Coast, Canada, and on my approach Scotland.
REED'S 05 EAST COAST NAUTICAL ALMANAC ATLANTIC PILOT ATLAS 3RD ED DMA 108 SE N AMER & CARIB A/K/A INTL 403 DMA 109 GULF OF MAINE TO GULF OF ST LAWR CHS CATALOG ATLANTIC 1 YACHTING GUIDE TO ATLANTIC COAST OF NOVA SCOTIA CRUISING GUIDE NEWFOUNDLAND WORLD CRUISING ROUTES 5TH ED ISLE OF MULL YACHTSMAN'S PILOT 2ND ED CLYDE TO COLONSAY PILOT W SCOTLAND 2ND ED CRUISING ALMANAC 2005 2006 FLAG CANADA 12 X 18 PRINTED FLAG SCOTLAND WITH CROSS 12 X 18 PREMIUM NP 2832 ALRS V3 P2 MAR SFTY INFO SVCS 05/06 MARINER'S GUIDE SINGLE SIDEBAND CHARTKIT REGION 3 NEW YORK NANTUCKET & CAPE MAY CHARTKIT REGION 2 BLOCK ISL TO CANADIAN BORDER
thanks Andrew
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David Burch
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posted June 20, 2005 09:17 AM
I apologize for the delay. i had written out a long reply and then when posting it my computer locked up and i lost it all. very frustrating. this has happened before, so now we are trying to track down this behavior.
Your list looks very thorough, but i do not know what is in the Reeds almanac and the Cruising almanac.
for weather and all radio broadcasts the main refernce is Radio Aids to Navigation. there is a us version Pub 117 as well as Canadian and UK. for a printed version the Canadian might be the best choice considering price and coverage...
but this brings me back to your computer. you said not for navigation, but what about weather fax maps, news releases, emails underway, and reference documents.
Pub 117 is for example some 45 to 50$ in print, but a free download at: http://164.214.12.145/pubs/
The sailing directions are also there as well as international light lists.
for print publications, i would suggest www.captainsnautical.com. they are one of the best in the world. in business for 101 years. a counterpart in UK is Thomas Gunn in Aberdeen http://www.thomasgunn.com/.
both of these companies have email contacts and would be happy to answer questions about specific references.
For getting news and entertainment via SSB, i would go to http://www.bbc.co.uk and in the top right do a search on "shortwave". That will give you schedules and frequencies and other notes.
back to computers! you may for example find it useful to have an electonic copy of the Code of Signals. Not needed unless emergency, so hard to justify the weight, but trivial to add as an ebook reference to a PC. Not to mention tide and current programs, light lists and so on.... are much easier to use in electonic format, even though some of these are important enough to have paper back ups on board, ie the coast pilots.... again fully searchable ebook copies are free to download.
From: Starpath, Seattle, WA
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