
NOAA Paves the Way in Modern Chart Making
Making and updating nautical charts is a continuous process that involves many people from different disciplines and organizations.

Making and updating nautical charts is a continuous process that involves many people from different disciplines and organizations.

Successful navigation is really just answering three simple questions: Where am I? Where am I going? How do I get there from here? Even when

In December 2013, I wrote stories about the “magenta line” on our nautical charts depicting the Intracoastal Waterway, and now lawyers want me to answer
Did you know that some areas of the U.S. coastal chart you’re using may only show land and bottom features accurate in position to +/- 1,600 feet, and you shouldn’t be confident about the depth soundings either?

Personally I have no problem going electronic-only when transiting familiar waters or inland waterways. But I love maps and charts. In fact as I typed those six preceding words, I looked up lovingly at the map of the Caribbean basin above my desk.
Yup, you’re going to be able to easily collect soundings as you cruise, if you want, you can watch the resulting high def sonar chart materialize in your wake.

With the help of Google, Torqueedo electric power, solar panels, and a specially designed multihull boat, the Baykeeper project is hard at work photographing some 500 miles of coastline around the San Francisco Bay area.

An estimated 70 percent of the trash sinks, and much of it is tiny bits of non-biodegradable plastic floating out of sight just below the surface creating what NASA calls the ‘Garbage Islands.’

NOAA’s quest to better understand the world’s seafloor continues, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has committed two of its ships to collect and update chart data in the Arctic.
For the past three years we’ve used electronic charting, combined with GPS, for navigation. For instance, on a recent overnight trip from New York Harbor

AIS networks are a mighty addition to any onboard suite of electronics. They have significant value, but also limitations.

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If you give your engine and generators regular love and attention, they won’t let you down.

A loft-like open layout and a choice of power-train options let buyers choose their own adventure.

Dickie Walker stands proudly as a blend of rugged seaworthiness and luxury design.

Twin 1,000-hp Volvo Penta D13s and 285 nautical miles of range give the new Absolute 70 Fly the room and speed to roam.

After more than 500,000 nautical miles as yacht delivery captains, Assen and Nikolay Alexandrov are still bringing boats home.

A Titan of Marine Journalism

Windlass and ground tackle maintenance can make all the difference in an emergency.

Good seamanship means using every available tool, but never relying on any one alone.