Navigation Newbie Needs a Primer

[320Bob]

Ok it's time to get back to boating issues instead of winter whining. As you can see by my header I am a River Rat where navigation consists primarily of looking to the port side river bank then looking to the starboard side river bank and stay in the middle along with dodging the occassional commercial barge and flying Asian Carp.

But I will not be content to remain on the tranquil Illinois Waterway and someday yearn to stick my bow into the big pond to the East where a number of CSR folks dock their boats.

Imagine I have wound my way 53 miles up the Illinois Waterway, arriving at the outside of the breakwater near Chicago Navy Pier. Now I want to go visit C-Side in New Buffalo, MI to see his new bottom painting job that he labored over this upcoming winter. But I don't want to take the "girly" course around the shoreline nor do I want to plot out 10 or 15 waypoints on my C80 chartplotter. I simply want to go from point A (Navy Pier) to point B (New Buffalo, MI)

I know one can enter the coordinates as 2 way points and go that way but that seems like a lot of data entry. Since I simply want to go in a straight line how can I do that? I got a Lake Michigan Chart with my Lakeland LM cruising guide and I see compass roses splattered in several places so is it safe to assume that these are useful navigation objects? Just a guess, but do navigation nerds use that funny set of parallel rulers to join the two points then use the other one to get a compass heading. If so its appears to me eyeballing the compass rose would yield a heading of 106.5 degrees versus true north and 111.5 versus magnetic north.

Or does a C80 chartplotter operate similar to a car navi where you list points of interest like the New Buffalo Municipal Marina and by selecting the name, it will take you there by pushing the "OK" button?

Another question is what is the Loran system and what does a Loran Linear Interpolation do?

Final question is what are people's experiences with the Navionics chip in the C80. Are waypoints that you create in the plotter overlayed on the Navionics map but not written to it? I had the Navionics Gold SD chip in the Lorance GPS system on my previous boat which had detailed maps of the Illinois Waterway but has anyone used this chip on Lake Michigan?

 

[Daniel P Thomas]

Bob

Not sure about which chip you have as I use a Standard Horzon and I use a Max Wide from C-Map.

Just zoom out and move GPS curser over to New Buffalo and leave it there on the screen.
GPS will give your COG and CTG
Course you are traveling and the course you need to run to New Buffalo.
This will include ETA and of course your speed.

As you get closer you can just keep zooming in on screen.

And get more details as you get closer.

Then just give Scott a call on your radio or telephone and he will come greet you in his 'way cool' Boston Whaler !

On the way back make a beeline for Hammond, put into the 'R' docks and stop for a cold one before you enter the Calumet for your trip back down to River Rat Country.

That is if they keep the locks open!

Dan

 

[320Bob]

Bob
...Just zoom out and move GPS curser over to New Buffalo and leave it there on the screen.
GPS will give your COG and CTG
Course you are traveling and the course you need to run to New Buffalo.
This will include ETA and of course your speed.

As you get closer you can just keep zooming in on screen.

And get more details as you get closer.

Then just give Scott a call on your radio or telephone and he will come greet you in his 'way cool' Boston Whaler !

On the way back make a beeline for Hammond, put into the 'R' docks and stop for a cold one before you enter the Calumet for your trip back down to River Rat Country.

That is if they keep the locks open!

Dan

I was hoping that you could "point and shoot" which makes things easier.

I didn't know Scott was the marina equivalent of a "Walmart Greeter."

And of course I would swing by Hammond and see my neighbor if only to take advantage of the cheaper IN gasoline prices. Also it would be easier to go back via the Calumet Sag Canal than schlep all the way back to the Chicago River.

 

[PowerhouseS3]

Wow - from the number of replies I must be the only old school navigator around. I just bought my first hand held GPS last year, and that was just to appease my wife. Any way, I grew up with the family boat since I was kid and am now talking my own family on trips. I am by no means a navigational expert, and most of my trips are fairly short under 50 miles, and admittedly rely on my own dead reckoning skills. But this is what I do. For new routes and destinations, only travel in good weather and daylight. You don't want to get stuck out in the dark. Plot your course, and yes I use parallels. Remember when using your chart, the magnetic north on the compass rose was only correct in the year it was created. Be sure to add back in the magnetic variation accumulated up to present time, this information is printed in the rose, whether to add east or west. Another trick airplane pilots use but I have not is. When traveling long distance they add in slight error to one side. Thus when reaching coast line and you do not see your destination you know with greater confidence which way to search. And I always keep track of time and speed, and also use compass and binoculars to triangulate my position, plus I always take notes while driving so I can always reverse my route. This is my two cents worth. I do it because I enjoy it. I think it is required skill, which I test against my new gps. The gps is just another tool to make me a better navigator. And i think you should always have a backup plan, you never know when the AA batteries will run out or the electronic decide to burn out. And finally, get a copy of Chapmans Piloting and seamanship.

 

[320Bob]

Wow - from the number of replies I must be the only old school navigator around...

Thanks, I think you're right since you are the only one that even mentioned a parallel rule. I"ll check out that Chapman's book since I have seen it at both West Marine and Borders.