Navigational Aids for the Chesapeake

[tap]

You say you have a Garmin 60CSX? You can get marine maps for it. Get the Bluechart DVD and then you can download maps to the device's memory.

Unfortunately, Garmin has stopped selling the DVD version of bluechart for downloading into their handheld GPSes. If you can't find a place selling it, there are other ways to get it, and I'll leave it at that.

[arf145]

So, everyone thinks navigating on the Chesapeake is easy without GPS? Man, I don't think so. Doable, of course. Necessary to know, sure. But when navigating into an unknown area where it's really important that you go around marker # whatever and you can't quite make out the number on marker whatever because your boat's bobbing around and you didn't spring for the motion correcting binos and your eyes used to be so damn much better you swear, a GPS fix or verifying your position on your little chartplotter really does make things more enjoyable. Much less sweat to squeegee off the deck

[dakine929]

Looks like I missed out on a stimulating discussion this last week. We navigated our Hunter 30T from Sara Creek on the York to Broad Creek in Deltaville this last weekend using charts, and our handheld 60csx GPS. To bad electronics and NOAA don't give the best weather picture! We wanted to sail on Saturday but there were small craft advisories and gusting winds over 30kts. We left Sunday morning (day reserved for church) to get the boat moved. Navaids aren't that great in 4-5 foot chop in the Chesapeake. The previous owner went with us and was a great instructor/guide.

I did buy the Americas Blue Chart DVD from West Marine after a thorough market analysis and price match. For less than $100, I had plottable charts loaded into my handheld GPS. Took me a while to figure out how to use the software and plot a course then load it into the handheld but I did and it worked well enough.

About the weather thing. Does NOAA ever get it right? Wundermap seems a bit more accurate on the weather picture but I don't want to invest in a satelite IS provider. Don't want to go war sailing for internet either. Do most marinas have a protected wireless Access Point? The boat came with XML WX radio antenna and receiver. I guess the previous owner hooked it into his chartplotter. Will need to find out.

[painkiller]

Originally Posted by dakine929

About the weather thing. Does NOAA ever get it right?

Nope. I've had 20 knots when none were forecast and zephyrs when 20 were forecast. And if you see a summertime forecast of "S winds 5 to 10 kt. Waves 1 ft." it means they don't know or they took the day off. That's the default forecast.

[bubb2]

Originally Posted by painkiller

Nope. I've had 20 knots when none were forecast and zephyrs when 20 were forecast. And if you see a summertime forecast of "S winds 5 to 10 kt. Waves 1 ft." it means they don't know or they took the day off. That's the default forecast.

Pain, I aways like the NOAA thunder storm Waring's. The ones that alert you to a thunder storm that passed through your area 1/2 to 3/4's of hour before the alert.

[arf145]

The NOAA forecasts have been, er, spot off this year. As painkiller said, a small craft advisory means there may be no wind or a bunch. I wondered if the conditions this year were just unusual--didn't notice such a disparity last year.

[ActisenseTechSupport]

I do not like running power and communication wires in the same bundle.

Having the power and data in the same bundle within the same shielding in the NMEA 2000 set-up (without getting too technical) has several benefits:

1: The data being referenced to the ground in the same cable means interference is soaked up thus corrupt messages are reduced.
2: Ground loops will be a thing of the past (as long as the NMEA 2000 spec is followed correctly)
3: Only one cable run is easier to track, weighs less and takes up less space. You can run the cable once and that's it, just attach devices anywhere along the cable without having to run a whole fresh length for NMEA 0183.

I am currently working on an NMEA 2000 information sheet that will have clarify the benefits of NMEA 2000 and how to connect and not connect your devices.
I'll post a link when it is done.

[pdqaltair]

Originally Posted by dakine929

Looks like I missed out on a stimulating discussion this last week. We navigated our Hunter 30T from Sara Creek on the York to Broad Creek in Deltaville this last weekend using charts, and our handheld 60csx GPS. To bad electronics and NOAA don't give the best weather picture! We wanted to sail on Saturday but there were small craft advisories and gusting winds over 30kts. We left Sunday morning (day reserved for church) to get the boat moved. Navaids aren't that great in 4-5 foot chop in the Chesapeake. The previous owner went with us and was a great instructor/guide.

I did buy the Americas Blue Chart DVD from West Marine after a thorough market analysis and price match. For less than $100, I had plottable charts loaded into my handheld GPS. Took me a while to figure out how to use the software and plot a course then load it into the handheld but I did and it worked well enough.

About the weather thing. Does NOAA ever get it right? Wundermap seems a bit more accurate on the weather picture but I don't want to invest in a satelite IS provider. Don't want to go war sailing for internet either. Do most marinas have a protected wireless Access Point? The boat came with XML WX radio antenna and receiver. I guess the previous owner hooked it into his chartplotter. Will need to find out.

And then deal with it.

You should be able to navigate the Bay without ATNs, using landmarks and a compass. I moved my boat last December, from Deltville to Deale, during gale warning period, with a 13-year old for crew. Both engines failed, but we could sail. It was a fun trip, no real troubles. The GPS did not have maps for the area, but I had paper charts. The forecast changed during the trip, but we adjusted our course. Sometimes weather means you can't go where you want, exactly when you want.

As for electronics that give you more weather forecasting, remember that they won't change the weather. You can stay in port, but if you go you will still get hit.

For short term forecasting on the Bay you will never do much better than learning her moods, keeping your eyes open, learning YOUR boat, and adjusting your itinerary to what you are given.