I'm always being asked - and have been for ages - how much confidence we can put in the GPS on our tablets and smartphones. At the risk of repeating myself, I persist in asserting that our mobile devices are provided with the most accurate GPS receivers that can be found in civilian use, especially for pleasure boating. Read more …
Category : Navigation
Articles related to Marine Navigation
The magnetic north pole on the move [Update]
The magnetic north pole of the Earth is rapidly moving away from the Canadian Arctic to Siberia. Scientists NCEI (¹) have updated the World Magnetic Model (WMM) 2020.
Are electronic charts prescribed in France ? [Update]
This question comes back to me from time to time, and as no one is supposed to ignore the law, I feel obliged to make my contribution to the edification of the crowds (boating) providing a collective response.
Manual or electronic navigation, which to choose ?
VMG / VMC – for Dummies
Navigation applications are full of acronyms. This coded and cryptic language was originally developed for electronic navigation instruments, GPS mapping and other chartplotters. These acronyms, in the form of three letters most often, are the contraction of terms defining specific navigation data and according functions. This facilitates on-screen display taking few space. While some of these acronyms are relatively well assimilated by the boater, as SOG for Speed Over Ground (SOG), you can quickly access subtleties that are not always mastered as COG for Course Over Ground, meaning "route runned on the ground", that the word "Course" in English can mean "Route" or "Heading" according to the context. Read more …
Man Over Board
Credit: SNSM Bandol
At all times the sailors had the fear of the sea fall. Even with a trained crew, the operation of recovering a crew water fallen is risky, Already with the engine, even more with the sail. During my training years in Glénans Sailing School, each boarding was the opportunity to train consistently with this maneuver, sailing, striving to come "die" heave to windward of the unfortunate, fortunately materialized by a buoy moored in a bucket as drift anchor. But the real problem was not there. It was above all not to lose sight of the crew, because come back to its fall position "reckoning" was virtually mission impossible. And today, with our sophisticated electronic means, it's not as easy as it sounds good… Read more …
Reed's Almanac iPad application is discontinued
In February 2016 I wrote a laudatory article about this digital version of Reed's Nautical Almanac, a wealth of information on the coasts of western Europe. Alas, Bloomsbury editor, which bought Reed's editions a few years ago, has decided otherwise. The end announced earlier this year was conducted in September.
Those who are already owner of the app, with an "all areas" subscription will be able to continue to use it. However all daily information from an internet connection (weather, MetOffice weather maps, tides, aso.) will no longer be updated, nor the permanent nautical and port information. Fortunately the latter are present in memory in the application, and still usable a few years.
Bloomsbury provides only the traditional paper books, accompanied by a perfectly indigestible PDF version.
What a pity!
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Guide Escales 2018 – Red card ! [Update-2]
It saddens me to finish the year with a critical article, but the subject deserves. I wrote in December 2016 (*) a genuinely positive assessment of the evolution of the application Guides Escales 2017 - Bloc Marine digital version by Figaro Nautisme editions - compared to 2016. But for edition 2018, is unfortunately go back, supply regress and severe rate increase.
Unlike the print edition you can keep several years in your boat library, the annual update of the application Guides Escales erases all purchased regions the previous year. It is therefore not a purchase but an annual subscription, nuance!. And that's not all…
[Updated 2022] The Stopover Guide has been withdrawn from sale.
Tutorial "Navigate with iNavX 5.0 " : Update V.3.0
Total release of the tutorial : illustrations update, replacement of 14 videos with the new interface, text update.
- 45 double-pages
- 76 screenshots
- 14 videos
A comprehensive multimedia iBook guide about iNavX use : basic functions, advanced functions, instruments connection. Read more …
BeiDou-3 China rushes its Global GPS
To date, the Chinese GPS satellite constellation BeiDou-2 covers only a part of East Asia and the Western Pacific. With the commissioning of GALILEO European GPS late 2016, the replacement scheduled of U.S. 2nd generation GPSII by the 3rd generation GPSIII, the launch of the 3rd generation of the Russian GLONASS-M satellites, China intends to catch up with global coverage forced march. Read more …
Guide Escales 2017
I mentioned last July the "Stopovers" Guide, digital version of the block Navy published by the Figaro group. It would seem that the remarks I made on the improperly fragmented Division of these guides have been heard : version 2017 see the reduced number of modules 17 up to 12 for the channel-Atlantic coast, and 13 up to 10 for the Mediterranean. This is a welcome initiative !