The Whole Picture
Relying on AIS? There may be more out there than what you see on the screen.
Navigation
Navigation, along with piloting, is the science of safely moving a boat from one place to another. Safe navigation includes marine chart reading, course plotting, and position finding underway. It takes into account tides and currents, an understanding of the maritime Rules of the Road, and correct interpretation of weather data. Understanding the capabilities of a specific boat in a variety of wind and sea state conditions is a vital part of safe navigation and piloting.
The Distress Call
An encounter off the Eastern Seaboard serves as a scary reminder about safe offshore practices.
Mapping the Sea Floor with Lasers
The next step in mapping, LiDAR utilizes high-tech lasers to give us the most accurate maps yet.
Navigation Lost
For all the precision of modern technology, sometimes there’s no substitute for the tried-and-true art of dead reckoning.
Mastering the Ups and Downs of Tides
he better we intrinsically understand tides and tidal currents in the areas we navigate, the better we can anticipate which charted hazards are actually hazardous to us, and which are merely interesting.
Dangerous AIS Targets? New Challenges To Safe Navigation
Unregulated AIS fishing beacons are most likely illegal and pose a hazard to navigation
Night Watch: Tips & Tricks for Running at Night
Boaters University Instructor for Fundamentals of Seamanship: Rules of the Road course, Robert Reeder gives us advice on the importance maintaining a proper lookout while running at night.
Navy Decides To Turn on AIS
And an Interview: The Real Reason the US Navy Keeps Hitting Merchant Vessels
A Different Kind of Anchoring Ban
Jersey Politician Takes Aim at Billionaires Taking 'Liberties'
Bathymetric Navigation: Line of Soundings Method
As contributor Robert Reeder continues his Seamanship columns on navigation in the absence of GPS, we will be producing videos to supplement to his column submissions.
Bye Bye Birdie #2: Bathymetric Navigation
Even vessels with the most austere complement of navigation electronics will usually have a depth sounder. Rarely, however, do we recognize the full utility of this unassuming tool, especially for navigation in the absence of GPS.
Bye, Bye Birdie #1: Raw Radar Navigation
Since 1991 when the Global Position System (GPS) first became operational, we have become ever more dependent on it for navigation.
Bye Bye Birdie: Why it's Time to Learn Satellite-Independent Navigation
For a quarter of a century, GPS (Global Positioning System) and other GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) have steadfastly provided excellent time and positioning information to mariners of vessels great and small, across oceans and ponds, in all seasons and in all weathers.
Hitting the Bricks: finding the right balance between the traditional and high-tech when it comes to safe navigation
It’s a dark and squally night in November 2014. Vestas Wind, one of the boats participating in the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race, is romping along at 16 knots in the Indian Ocean.
NV Charts Puts Paper In Its Place
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.