GPS Charts

Better Freshwater Fishing with Electronic Charts

Thursday, October 22, 2009 by Ron Ballanti

Most serious ocean fishermen wouldn’t dream of heading offshore without their high-tech marine electronics, especially their electronic chart plotter and digital cartography. Why?   Because they count on their marine chartplotter and electronic charts for a wealth of information that helps them find and catch more fish.

In growing numbers, freshwater anglers are also “tuning in and turning on,” spurred by increasing availability of smaller sized, affordable electronic chart plotters and fishing charts for popular freshwater lakes and rivers. For about the cost of a high-performance stainless prop, freshwater anglers can install a GPS/chart plotter and add satellite boating navigation and detailed waterway maps to their arsenal of weapons.

Today’s best marine GPS receivers can pinpoint your position to within three meters anywhere in the world, allowing you to navigate with accuracy and – most importantly – return to “fishy” areas.   And with the proliferation of inexpensive, hand-held GPS units that can fit in a tackle box, many fishermen are “steering by the numbers” to do just this.

Using an electronic chart plotter, however, adds a whole new dimension.    Electronic chart plotters add marine map technology capable of showing your boat’s position and movement over a digitized map of the lake or river’s bottom. Depending on the level of detail, this digital cartography can include submerged creek channels, drop-offs, points, brush piles, sunken islands and other structure items that are critical to fishermen.

With a little imagination, it’s easy to see how a real-time representation like this can help the freshwater anglers.   By really knowing the layout of the lake and where your boat is positioned in relation to key structure, you can spend more time fishing where the fish are. And by correlating what you see on the electronic chart plotter with information from your depth-sounder, you won’t have to wonder what’s under your boat. In fishing, knowledge is confidence. And confident anglers catch more fish.

Of course, an electronic chart plotter can only provide as much detail as is contained on the digital cartography it is running.   Companies like C-MAP have come a long way in the development of extremely detailed electronic charts for the nation’s most popular freshwater fishing areas.   The company’s MAX Lakes catalog of specialized freshwater fishing charts was developed with one purpose in mind — to help freshwater anglers catch more fish. Today, C-Map MAX Lakes fishing charts are available covering thousands of popular lakes and waterways in every U.S. state.

There are many ways savvy fishermen use this electronic chart data to their advantage. For example, walleye anglers can use their electronic chart plotters to focus and fine-tune their trolling presentations. Successful walleye trolling is based on precise boat positioning, boat speed and bait presentation, and a plotter gives you an extra high-tech tool.   If the fish are hanging along an edge or suspended over an underwater riverbed, you can position your boat precisely, track your progress on the map and make adjustments for wind and current.

Say you’re a bass fishermen, and you’re working a steep drop off a submerged point with a pig-and-jig or live bait. Same idea – you can monitor your boat’s progress in relation to the shoreline and the bottom, and make small adjustments as necessary.   And with the accuracy of today’s marine electronic GPS, you can keep working productive water by marking where you hookup and returning to this area through subsequent drifts.

These are just a few of the ways an electronic chart plotter and specialized fishing charts can make a wizard out of any freshwater fisherman.   Whether the name of your game is largemouth, walleye, trout, crappie or stripers, C-Map charts will help you catch more fish.    Visit your boat dealer or electronics store and get turned on to the world of electronic charts.

Electronic charts keep you on the right side of the line – and the law.

Thursday, October 22, 2009 by Ron Ballanti

Electronic charts keep you on the right side of the line – and the law.

Anybody who fishes ocean waters off California is aware of the state’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) and what this law means to recreational anglers. In a very complex process, various groups have been working on ways to achieve the conservation goals of the act, which was passed to protect the state’s marine resources. What this will mean to the layman is a growing network of no-fishing and/or restricted fishing zones up and down California’s 840-mile coast.

Southern Californians are familiar with this already; Marine Protected Areas have been in place around the Anacapa, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands for several years. Closures are on the way for the rest of the state, as well as an even greater network of no-fishing zones for Southern California islands and coastline areas. Battle lines are being drawn right now, with a variety of competing marine maps vying for the approval of the state Fish and Game Commission.

However these marine maps end up coming out, it will be the fisherman’s responsibility to know and obey the law. There aren’t any floating warning signs telling you where you can or can’t fish, and printed charts with GPS boundaries of closed areas aren’t much use either.

Without a doubt, an electronic chart plotter with updated digital cartography is the best way for anglers to remain inside the law — and outside closed areas. A marine chartplotter will allow boaters to graphically see their GPS position relative to specific closed areas (most electronic GPS units allow users to customize the electronic chart display to mark general boundaries on the marine map.

Since the first closures were put in place around the Channel Islands several years ago, C-Map charts by Jeppesen Marine have had existing no-fishing zones clearly marked in red. This means that boaters can fish with confidence that they won’t accidentally cross into areas that could cost them a hefty fine. By using the electronic chart plotter’s proximity alarm feature, they can be alerted if they get too close, even if they are off the bridge and busy fishing in the cockpit.

Another advantage C-Map charts offer is the confidence to fish in close proximity to these closed areas, while remaining legally outside. These areas were selected because they are productive fish habitat — and anglers without this electronic edge are often too concerned to take their boats anywhere near them. I’ve experienced this first hand, catching quality bottom fish in an area adjacent to (but safely outside) the Carrington Reef closure area at Santa Rosa Island while other boats chose to steer clear of the whole area.

Closures like these will begin expanding up and down the state in 2010. Additional Marine Protected Areas totaling as much as 400 square miles are in the works for the Southern California region alone, depending on which marine map gets approved. Other coastal states, as well as the federal government, are also looking at similar networks of protected areas and fishing closures to manage marine resources. Don’t think this trend only applies to the Golden State.

Like it or not, more closed and restricted areas are in our future. Having a marine electronic GPS and quality electronic cartography will become increasingly important as the wide-open ocean becomes less open to anglers. This is why I’m glad that Jeppesen Marine updates its navigational charts and fishing charts at least twice each year. As a law-abiding boater and fisherman, I want to be sure I’m navigating with the most accurate electronic chart data available.

UK. Actisense makes smarter connections to increase sales and expand in global marketplace

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 by Richard Allen

By BYM
www.bymnews.com

Actisense, the market leading marine electronics brand from Active Research Limited, based in Poole, in the UK has had a busy and exciting year with sales up 27% and opportunities to expand into new regions and markets.

Highlights over the last six months include Actisense producing a bespoke solution for distributing GPS signals on a fleet of over 600 buses in New South Wales, Australia. The transition from water to wheels has been a great success, with over 2,000 units ordered so far, the Actisense team is confident that this is just the start of diversification into other transportation fields.

Actisense is also delighted to have moved into Romanian markets and is represented by Navtron SRL. With such a depth of knowledge in the leisure and commercial markets, the Actisense brand is a perfect fit with the products and services Navtron offers in the region.

In addition, Actisense have also introduced a range of new products for 2009, including the NGW-1 NMEA 2000 Gateway. The NGW-1 makes it possible to convert between NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 data. Actisense is delighted that 100 units have been sold while the product is still in beta testing and a further 200 units are already on order.

The NGW-1 will be demonstrated at the Actisense stand at METS 2009, along with the new NGT-1 NMEA 2000 PC Interface and a range of NMEA 2000 connectors.

Phil Whitehurst, Managing Director, Active Research said, “Achieving the order from one of Australia’s largest transport companies has been fantastic and we anticipate more interest from other transportation businesses. This has been just one highlight in a busy and exciting time for us. The much anticipated release of the NGW-1 next month means we have a lot to look forward to.”

Boating Navigation and Safety

Friday, October 9, 2009 by Richard Allen

Skillfully navigating the waterways is not only rewarding, but essential to boating safety. Learn how to navigate the waterways using a marine GPS, compass, RADAR, and nautical charts, and boost your boating confidence by knowing the Coast Guard Navigation Rules.

• Navigation Center - US Coast Guard
• Boating Safety Resource Center - US Coast Guard

San Francisco Harbor Pilot Gets Prison time for Navigation Errors.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 by Jim Rhodes

John Cota, the San Francisco harbor pilot, who was navigating the cargo ship Cosco Busan when it struck the Bay Bridge in a thick morning fog on November 7, 2007, has been sentenced to a 10-month prison term. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston imposed the maximum term proposed in the plea agreement reached with Cota in March. He agreed to plead guilty to two offenses: negligently causing discharge of a harmful quantity of oil in violation of the Clean Water Act passed by Congress in the wake of the Exxon Valdez grounding in 1989, and also of causing the death of a protected species of migratory birds.

You may remember the Cosco Busan incident, which got a great deal of play in the press. The 901-foot ship, registered in Hong Kong, struck one of the bridge towers, spilling some 53,000 gallons of diesel fuel, which spread along 26 miles of shoreline and killed approximately 2,400 sea birds. The ship was making its way out of San Francisco harbor in a pea-soup fog, which was so thick they couldn’t even see the bow of the ship from the bridge. In fact, six other ships had decided to stay in port that morning, waiting for the fog to lift. After the collision, the pilot insisted that it was caused by malfunctioning radars, which forced him to rely solely on the GPS positions as shown on the electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS). He claimed that he confused the electronic chart symbols, causing him to mistake the bridge tower for the center of the channel under the bridge. A replay of the ship’s recorded radar pictures after the event showed that both radars were functioning normally. Coast Guard watchstanders at a nearby vessel tracking station apparently observed the ship as being off course but failed to radio a warning that it was in immediate danger.

The National Transportation Safety Board report, issued in February, revealed a number of contributory factors, but concluded that the primary blame rested on the shoulders of the 61-year old Cota, an experienced pilot who had been navigating ships through San Francisco Bay since 1981. Prosecutors at the sentencing hearing pointed to the fact that Cota had failed to disclose medical conditions and prescription drugs on his required annual forms submitted to the Coast Guard for his license renewal.

It’s a shame. By all accounts, Captain Cota was a veteran pilot with more than 25 years experience and seemed to be good at his job. The Cosco Busan incident destroyed his career and sent him to prison. I have talked to other harbor pilots, who are friends of mine, and they believe he was unfairly victimized. They point, for instance, to the inherent difficulty of communication between an English-speaking pilot and Chinese-speaking master. The master and crew were new on the ship, and were not thoroughly familiar with the bridge equipment. The Chinese master, they say, had the ultimate authority and responsibility for the safe navigation of his ship. He was the one who decided to get underway in spite of the heavy fog, probably (my pilot friends tell me) under pressure from the ship management company to keep to schedule.

There’s no doubt he made a series of errors, and I am sure he deserved his sentence – if for no other reason than that he lied on his license renewal forms. Still, I can easily envision myself on the bridge of a large merchant ship, unable to see my familiar visual piloting aids in the dense fog, surrounded by officers who don’t understand my language, struggling with radar and ECDIS screens that don’t seem to make sense to me and feeling awfully, awfully lonely and exposed. The sea, alas, is an unforgiving master. So are federal courts, especially when it comes to spoiled.

Catch Your Drift.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 by Ron Ballanti

Tips for More Effective Drift Fishing

It doesn’t matter if you’re in freshwater or salt, East Coast or West, drift fishing can be one of the most effective ways to get hooked up with your quarry. It’s certainly one of the easiest ways. After all, fishing from a moving boat allows you to cover plenty of ground in your effort to find fish and present your baits/lures.

Don’t get the idea, however, that all that’s required is to randomly pick an area, drop your lines and wait for a bite. Just like any other style of fishing, there are subtle tricks and techniques that separate top “drifters” from everybody else.

Remember that your boat is an extension of your rod, reel and terminal tackle, and plays a key role in your presentation. This is true whether you’re drifting over soft bottom for halibut or fluke, or working a piece of structure for bass. It’s important to analyze how your boat drifts. Even under similar wind/current conditions, vessels can behave differently based on factors like length, beam, draft, windage and weight distribution.

Ideally, every vessel would drift sideways to the wind, providing a slow speed and plenty of room to spread out lines. In reality, many boats drift bow first, stern first or anywhere in between. Using your GPS will provide an accurate drift speed over ground based on given conditions.

What can be done to change the drift characteristics of your vessel? To slow down, cut down on your vessel’s windage by putting down Bimini tops or removing canvas enclosures on your flybridge. You may also be able to change your drift angle by turning the outboard motor, outdrive or rudder.

If more adjustment is needed, a sea anchor can be deployed to both slow your vessel and alter its drift angle. Sea anchors work like underwater parachutes, catching water to create beneficial drag. How it effects your boat depends largely on placement. Tie it off to the bow and the boat will ride bow into the wind/swell. Tying off to the windward stern quarter will help the boat drift in a more sideways fashion, more desirable for fishing. If you tend to drift stern to the wind, placing a sea anchor off the bow quarter will help you remain more sideways.

Once you have a feeling for how your vessel behaves, you’ll be better at setting up each drift. There are two key factors that cause your boat to drift — wind and current. You have to take into account the speed/direction of both. A piece of ribbon or light fabric tied to your VHF antenna acts like a tiny wind sock, helping you predict the effect wind movement will have. If current isn’t visible on the surface, try dropping a shiny nickel over the side to gauge which direction it flutters.

Precise drift positioning is very important when drifting over a wreck, rockpile or reef. If you don’t start far enough upwind/current of the spot, you’re likely to drift past before your lines enter the strike zone. After you make a pass or two, check the track lines on your boat’s GPS/chart plotter and see how they relate to the bottom contour/structure you’re fishing. Having this graphical representation allows you to fine tune your drift over an area, making minor adjustments that can result in major payoffs.

Be my guest.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009 by Ron Ballanti

10 Steps Towards Being a Better Boating Buddy

I am at the moment, boatless. A person who depends on the kindness of friends and family to get his fishing fix and time on the water. In less civilized circles we’re known as “boat ho’s,” — but I wear the label proudly.

When I owned my own boats, I quickly learned the value of buddies who could share in the fun and make boat ownership easier and less expensive. Now that I’m on the other side of the fence, I work hard at being on the top of my friends’ call list when they’re putting together inshore or offshore fishing trips off Southern California.

Here are 10 easy ways to be a better “boating buddy.” If you follow these general rules, you’ll probably be invited back again and again.

1. Pitch in for expenses. Owning and operating a boat is a serious expense. Not just trip-related costs like fuel, food and bait, but also insurance, registration, slip fees, maintenance, etc. that come up all year long. Guests who ask up front how and how much they can contribute usually rise to the top of the list when putting together fishing trips.

2. Get involved in the planning. Help with planning the trip, whether it’s researching where the bite is, picking up needed tackle or equipment, or getting the boat ready. There’s also nothing wrong with being proactive and suggesting outings. Some of my best trips happened because I picked up the phone and called my boat-owning friends. Most of the time, they’re looking for a good reason to get out on the water and your call may just be the right incentive.

3. Be punctual. Nothing gets a trip off to a bad start like waiting around for somebody to arrive. Be sure you know exactly when and where you’re supposed to meet, and be there 15 minutes early. If you’re not familiar with the marina/launch ramp, get directions the night before (or use your vehicle’s GPS). Make certain you have the skipper’s cell number, so you can call well ahead of time if you are unavoidably detained.

4. Don’t bring too much “stuff.” Don’t be the guy who shows up on a 21-foot center console toting 10 fishing rods, a tackle box, ice chest, boom box, video camera with tripod, etc. Make sure you discuss in advance how many rods the boat can accommodate and what gear you really need to bring. I keep a soft-sided tackle bag that I pack with the basics and bring on other people’s vessels.

5. Be a crew member. Ask the skipper what you can do to help in managing the boat and the day’s activities. Having a role is part of the fun, even if you’re just stowing the dock lines or hosing off the deck. The more trips you go on, the more of a “well oiled” machine you become (and the more responsibilities you’ll have). When you’re asked to take a turn at the helm or help in setting the anchor, you’ll feel some of the same pride you felt as a boat owner.

6. Hands off the electronics. As a rule of thumb, I don’t lay a finger on my friends’ electronics without asking first. The captain may have them set up a certain way and will not appreciate your changing the gain on the echosounder, adjusting the radar settings or playing with the VHF. As you become an accepted crewmember, you may need to do these things (such as jogging the autopilot to avoid an obstacle), but it’s always best to take an “ask first” approach.

7. Respect the Captain’s authority. —As a member of the crew, it’s your job to respect the captain’s authority and do what you’re asked. This includes obeying the captain’s rules regarding smoking, drinking and general personal conduct.

8. Bring your fishing “A game”. The boat owner/captain generally feels great pride when his crew catches fish. It’s a sense of accomplishment that can’t be matched, even by catching fish himself. As a member of the crew, you’re expected to bring your fishing “A game” every trip. This means having all your gear prepped and in good order, being well rested (not hung over) and fishing hard all day.

9. Be supportive. As crew, you can provide input as to the fishing plan for the day, but ultimately, it’s the skipper’s call on where to go and what to fish for. Sometimes his choices pay off, sometimes they don’t. It never pays to “second guess” the captain’s choices. Instead, be supportive and express appreciation for a day on the water. “We’ll get ‘em next time!” is a good motivator and lets him know you’re ready to sail with him again.

10. Help with clean up. The fishing day isn’t done until the fish are cleaned and the boat is washed up and put away. ‘Nuff said.

Fishing For $5000

Friday, September 4, 2009 by Ron Ballanti

Here’s an event for avid striper fishermen. Top anglers from across the country will be heading to Mashpee, MA September 19, 2009 to compete in this high-profile fishing competition - the Jeppesen Marine Cape Cod Striper Showdown. This American Striper Association (ASA) sanctioned event awards $5000 to the first place winner ($2500 if not a member of ASA) and the top 5 winners are assured of a cash prize.

This competition is sponsored by Jeppesen Marine, a market-leading provider of navigation solutions, including C-MAP electronic navigational charts, C-Marina charts, bathymetric Fishing Contour Charts and marine GPS navigational software. For more details about the Marine Cape Cod Striper Showdown, visit ASA's website at www.fishasa.co

Updated Charts Help You Steer Clear of Trouble in Many Forms

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 by Ron Ballanti

Most navigators are aware of many of the reasons why it’s good to keep your electronic charts up-to-date. Having the most current information on Nav Aid placement, shoals and underwater obstacles are obvious examples of how up-to-date charts can help keep you and your boat out of trouble and off the rocks.

There are other ways boaters can get in trouble, however, and they can be even more costly than running aground. For a variety of reasons ranging from national security and public safety to endangered marine wildlife, our waters are governed by a growing network of exclusion or security zones. These are areas where recreational and commercial vessels may be under speed or operational restrictions, may not be able to travel at all, or may be restricted from anchoring or even fishing.

There are a couple of important points for boaters to remember: These zones are being changed, moved, and added all the time around our country. And unlike on land, there are rarely posted speed limit or “No Trespassing” signs on the open water to alert boaters to these restrictions. The fines and penalties for breaking these rules can be costly — from hundreds or even thousands of dollars per incident — and can even include prison time.

For example, a recent bulletin issued by the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Miami outlines Cruise Ship Security Zones in effect whenever two or more cruise ships are docked at the Port of Miami. No vessel, recreational boat or personal watercraft is permitted to transit through or anchor in this zone without express permission from the U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port (COTP). This document also outlines a nearby Manatee Zone designated to protect these slow-moving marine mammals, limiting transiting vessels to Idle Speed/No Wake travel in this area of the Intracoastal Waterway. The maximum civil penalty for violation of a security zone is up to $32,500 per violation. The maximum criminal penalty for knowing and willful violations of a security zone like this is up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The Coast Guard takes this quite seriously, as evidenced by the fact that it recently raised first-time recreational operator fines for security zone violators in Prince William Sound (Alaska) from $250 to $1,000 ($2,000 for commercial operators). Repeat violators receive immediate fines of $5,000 to $10,000.

The California coast currently has a network of Marine Protected Areas that restrict or prohibit fishing — and more are on the way in accordance with the state’s Marine Life Protection Act. Cast your line where you’re not supposed to and you might catch more than you bargained for — like potentially hefty fines from the Department of Fish and Game.

These are just a few examples of how a small boating mistake could cost you big. Of course, one of the best things sailors, power boaters and anglers can do to avoid trouble like this is to update their electronic charts at least once per season. Jeppesen Marine is constantly monitoring not only Notice-to-Mariner notifications, but also new exclusion zones, security zones and fishing regulations. It’s an ongoing effort to integrate these important changes into our electronic chart database. Seeing these boundary lines and the precise GPS position of your vessel gives you the information you need to steer clear of potential trouble. Jeppesen Marine is the only electronic chart provider that issues updated versions twice per year — in the Spring and Fall — to help navigators stay on the right side of the channel AND the right side of the law.

With Club Jeppesen Marine, boaters automatically receive the updated chart of their choosing, when and where they want it. It’s easy, affordable (less than the cost of purchasing an update), and automatic — plus Club members receive a boatload of additional benefits and discounts. To learn more about the Club and electronic chart updating, visit www.jeppesen.com/lightmarine.

Miami Area Security Measures

http://www.uscg.mil/d7/sectMiami/pdf/MIAMISecurityZoneFlyer.pdf

Valdez, Alaska
Coast Guard Imposed $1,000 fines for Boaters in Port Valdez

For more information on safety zones and regulations check out the United States Coast Guard

Raymarine Partners with Ranger Boats

Friday, August 14, 2009 by Richard Allen

Electronics Leader Offers Systems for Premium Saltwater Boats

MERRIMACK, N.H., July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Raymarine, Inc., a world leader in marine electronics, today announced a new opportunity with Ranger Boats, the nation's largest manufacturer of premium fiberglass fishing boats. Raymarine electronics are now available as a factory-installed option on Ranger's Bay Ranger line of saltwater boats.

Raymarine is offering two different Flats Class electronics packages on select Bay Ranger boats, targeted at either inshore or offshore fishing enthusiasts. The optional Flats Class packages consist of either Raymarine's new C90 Widescreen Multifunction Display or the new A50D GPS-Chartplotter/Fishfinder combination unit. Both packages offer Raymarine's award-winning HD Digital fishfinding technology as well as the SIRIUS Marine Weather Service. The Flats Class electronic packages are named for the popular saltwater fishing television show of the same name hosted by Ray Van Horn and Captain C.A. Richardson, who fish exclusively on Ranger Boats with Raymarine electronics.

"We're pleased that Raymarine has chosen our legendary Bay Ranger models to platform and share this optional electronics package," said Ranger Boats President, Randy Hopper. "The spacious Bay Ranger console design works well with these units to give our family of owners even more opportunity to custom build the saltwater rig of their dreams."

Raymarine Flats Class packages are available on Bay Ranger 2000, 2200, 2310, 2400 and 2410 models.

About Ranger Boats

Ranger Boats, headquartered in Flippin, Ark., is the nation's largest manufacturer of premium fiberglass fishing boats, including a series of bass, multi-species, fish 'n play and saltwater boats. Founded in 1968 by Forrest L. Wood, Ranger Boats continues its commitment to building the highest quality, strongest performing boats on the water.

About Raymarine

Raymarine, a world leader in marine electronics, develops and manufactures the most comprehensive range of electronic equipment for the recreational boating and light commercial marine markets. Designed for high performance and ease of use, the award-winning products are available through a global network of dealers and distributors. The Raymarine product lines include radar, navigation aids, instruments, fishfinders, communications, software and systems. Raymarine plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information about Raymarine in the USA call 1-603-881-5200 or visit www.raymarine.com.

San Francisco Harbor Pilot Get Prison Time for Navigation Errors

Friday, August 14, 2009 by Jim Rhodes

You can read the press release on Cota’s sentencing at HYPERLINK "http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/July/09-enrd-689" www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/July/09-enrd-689.

West Marine Announces Grand Opening of a New Location in Melbourne

Thursday, August 13, 2009 by Jim Rhodes

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (July 21, 2009) - West Marine, the largest specialty retailer of boating supplies and accessories, today announced the grand opening celebration of its newest location in Melbourne, Florida, August 15 - 16, 2009.

West Marine’s newest store – the company’s largest in Brevard County– is located one mile west of the Indian River, at 1001 West Haven Ave on Dairy Road. With more than 10,000 square feet, this store features a full selection of fishing, electronics, boating and trailering supplies for the thousands of Space Coast-area boaters who partake in outdoor activities on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW.) Store Manager Eric Sorrell brings more than 20 years of boating and fishing experience to his post, and he joined West Marine four years ago while attending the Florida Institute of Technology where he majored in Aviation Management.

“Melbourne is the perfect location for this new West Marine store, and we look forward to serving the needs of the active boating, fishing and sailing community in South Florida,” said West Marine Store Manager Eric Sorrell. “In total, our team of West Marine Associates has more than 150 years of boating and fishing experience, including experts like Christian Foster, (our venerable Assistant Manager) who has been sailing most of his life, and is very eager to assist customers in need of supplies and accessories for a day cruise on the ICW, or a fish in the Indian River.”

Grand opening festivities begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday, August 15, 2009 and refreshments (including free hot dogs & sodas) will be served while supplies last. The celebration continues all weekend with special discounts and prize give-a-ways, including $100 West Marine gift cards, GPS units and more.

ABOUT WEST MARINE

West Marine, the largest specialty retailer of boating supplies and accessories, has more than 340 stores located in 38 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and a franchised store located in Turkey. Our catalog and Internet channels offer customers approximately 52,000 products and the convenience of exchanging catalog and Internet purchases at our store locations. Our Port Supply division is one of the country's largest wholesale distributors of marine equipment serving boat manufacturers, marine services, commercial vessel operators and government agencies. For more information on West Marine's products and store locations, or to start shopping, visit westmarine.com or call 1-800-BOATING (1-800-262-8464).

Burning Question: What Can I Do to Make My GPS Work Better?

Friday, July 17, 2009 by Richard Allen

By Cliff Kuang
WIRED MAGAZINE

Whether you're heading into the wild or down the road, it's hard to find a better electronic sidekick than a GPS. (Well, you know, other than a cell phone.) NavTeq, which provides electronic cartography for the likes of Garmin and Magellan, says GPS unit sales doubled in 2008 (after tripling in 2007). Still, even savvy gadgeteers sometimes can't locate their device's true potential.

Because a GPS has to receive a signal from space, physical impediments like skyscrapers, cliff faces, and even trees can stump it. Reception is less of an issue with the ultrasensitive chipsets in newer models, but if the walls are closing in on you, take a cue from a time when navigation systems weren't the streamlined panels they are today: Hooking up an antenna will make use of even the most tenuous celestial connection. There's a port on the back of most GPS devices for jacking in.

But don't drop $50 on extra hardware until you've made sure the problem isn't operator error. The worst time to power up your GPS is when you actually need it. Before you set out, find some wide-open sky and give your silicon guide a couple of minutes to itself. Newer units have detailed tables that tell them where the satellites will be at any time of day, anywhere in the world; they just need a single clean sync to get oriented. If you wait until you're in the woods, the receiver will have to scan the heavens with no inkling of where to start.

You'll also want to remember that a GPS is not a compass: It runs on software. Like your PC, it needs to communicate with the mother ship periodically. Vendors refresh firmware and maps on a regular basis, sometimes even daily. These updates deliver new bits of data that significantly affect your gadget's accuracy. But if you live in the boonies on a road named after your sister-wife, don't expect NavTeq to come a-knocking with its survey equipment. Fortunately, most companies make it easy to update your own maps. Usually it's as simple as plugging into your home computer, dropping a couple of pins in Google Maps, and clicking Save.

If you own a new TomTom, it's even easier. You can edit maps on the unit itself, though you might not have to: Some of the company's navis update themselves. TomTom's IQ Routes software takes data from every person who uses the company' gadgets and readjusts its assumptions about which roads you should use and how long a given route will take. It will even change its own maps.

See, it's not that hard: Your GPS may use NASA technology, but getting the most out of it isn't rocket science. view WIRED

Electronics are Great, But There's Nothing Like Mark 1 Eyeball When it Comes to Navigation.

Friday, July 17, 2009 by Jim Rhodes

I’m a great fan of electronic charts, GPS and integrated bridge systems, but like many old-time navigators I worry about the erosion of traditional seafaring skills when it comes to safe navigation and piloting. When teaching navigation courses in the Navy, I spent years pounding into the heads of my students the Prime Directive – never place 100% reliance in any single aid to navigation. Always verify everything from a second source.

A case in point.

Shortly before midnight, on June 10, 1995, the cruise ship Royal Majesty, with more than 1,500 passengers, grounded on Rose and Crown Shoal about ten miles east of Nantucket Island. The weather was clear, and the ship was equipped with a state-of-the-art integrated navigation system. The bridge watch team was experienced and fully staffed. Still, the ship managed to run hard aground on a well-charted shoal. The ship’s actual position turned out to be 17 miles from where the watch officers, relying on their electronics, believed it to be.

The accident investigation traced the error to a GPS antenna cable that jarred loose. This caused the electronic charting system to default automatically to a dead reckoning mode, updating its position by heading and speed inputs in the absence of GPS position inputs. The error went undiscovered for 34 hours.

So why did none of the watch officers notice that the ship was off track? Why did they not compare the charted position against the radar picture of the shoreline, or take compass bearings from visible charted navigation aids, or even verify the identification and characteristics of nearby buoys against the chart. No one even seemed to notice that the GPS position readout did not match the coordinates displayed on the Loran-C receiver, which was mounted right next to the GPS.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the primary cause of the accident was the crew’s overreliance on the automated features of the integrated bridge system, ignoring several important “cues” that should have alerted them to the ever-accumulating navigation error in their electronic charting system over the 34-hour period.

Mind you, electronic charts and integrated bridge system technology has come a long ways since 1995, and these systems are now designed to ensure that a broken GPS antenna cable would set off plenty of audible and visual alarms for the master and bridge team. It wasn’t the GPS that caused the accident (although it was heralded by many at the time as the “first GPS-assisted grounding”). It was the navigation team’s fixation on the electronic systems and unwillingness to follow the Prime Directive of Navigation.

You can download the NTSB accident report from http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/1997/mar9701.pdf. It’s written in a simple and direct prose style that is easy to read, and I highly recommend it to anyone seriously interested in ship navigation.

Time Flies!

Friday, July 17, 2009 by Jim Rhodes

One of my most important jobs, when I served as a Third Class Quartermaster on a U.S. Navy oiler in the early 1970s, was to attend to the ship’s three chronometers. The three exquisite timepieces were binnacle mounted in wooden boxes and kept in a special felt-lined drawer in the chartroom. Every morning, I would ask the radio shack to tune the chartroom speaker to a particular shortwave frequency, where I could listen to the “time tick” broadcast from the U.S. Naval Observatory. The announcer would say, “At the tone the time will be exactly fifteen hours and three minutes Greenwich Mean Time.” At the tone, I would start a stopwatch, then proceed to compare each of the three chronometers. I would log the difference and calculate the daily decay rate for each of them. Another of my jobs, during abandon ship drills, was to gently remove one of the boxed chronometers from its drawer and carry it, along with a sextant, almanac and sight reduction tables, to the lifeboat station, to ensure the survivors could navigate to the nearest friendly shore if the ship were to sink.

Why all this fastidiousness about time?

Accurate timekeeping is critical when taking observations of celestial bodies. It’s also important in dead reckoning. Remember that prior to the advent of GPS the primary means of navigating at sea was through celestial sights, and it was not uncommon for a ship to navigate by dead reckoning for days at a time, estimating the ship’s position based on course and speed steered since the last fix.

Prior to the eighteenth century, there was no practical way for sailors to measure longitude at sea. It was possible to measure latitude without a time reference, by taking sights on the sun at local apparent noon (LAN) and on Polaris, the North Star, at morning or evening dusk. But longitude calculation required an accurate time reference, and human science had not yet come up with an accurate timepiece that could function for months at a time on a rolling and pitching ship at sea. So for many centuries, mariners “sailed the squares” when making open ocean transits – sailing up or down the coast to the desired line of latitude and sailing back up or down the coast after making landfall on the other side. The invention of the marine chronometer by an English clockmaker named John Harrison in the 1730s revolutionized the art of marine navigation by making longitude calculation possible. Thus, when Captain Cook made his famous voyages of discovery, he was able to create reasonably accurate charts. His original surveys are still the basis for many nautical charts today.

As an aside, you might be interested in the bells traditionally used to chime the hours on ships at sea. Watchkeeping was (and still is) generally based on a four hour rotation. Prior to the invention of the chronometer, an hour glass was used to mark the time, albeit with marginal accuracy. At the first half hour of the watch (0830), the officer of the deck would turn the hour glass and ring a single bell. At the next half hour, he would turn the glass again and sound two bells. Then three, four, five and so on. Finally, at the last hour of the watch, eight bells were sounded, signaling time for changing the watch on deck. The oncoming watch would start over with one bell. And so it would continue throughout the day and night.

If you are interested in the subject, I highly recommend Dava Sobel’s best selling book on Harrison’s famous chronometer. The book, “Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time,” was published in the mid 1990s and is still in print. You can order a copy from www.amazon.com for less than $7.00. It’s a fascinating story and well told by Ms. Sobel.

Safety Tips for Fishing at Night

Friday, July 17, 2009 by Ron Ballanti

I recently saw an online report by a private boat angler who, after hitting the bunk during an all-night fishing trip for white seabass at Catalina Island, was startled awake by a proverbial “bump in the night.” His first thought was that his boat had dragged anchor and had drifted into the rocks on the weather side of this popular Southern California island.

As he and the rest of his crew stumbled topsides to spring into action, it quickly became clear this was not the case. To their disbelief, they soon realized their vessel had been rammed by another boat trying to navigate the crowded “minefield” of boats anchored up on Catalina’s backside squid grounds, soaking baits and waiting for schools of the giant croakers to swim through. After the initial shock wore off (they were properly lit and had a man on watch), they quickly assessed the damage to both vessels. Fortunately, the captain of the other fishing boat was traveling slowly enough that the damage, while costly, was only cosmetic and did not endanger either boat.

Situations like this remind us that boating, particularly at night, is a sport with inherent dangers. Fortunately, by exercising a little common sense, learning the rules of the road and taking advantage of today’s modern technology, we have the power to minimize these dangers. Here are some quick tips for fishermen who like to fish at night:

Maintain A Sharp Lookout — In the scenario above, the anchored fishing boat correctly had one person awake and on watch, yet as the saying goes, “he never saw what hit him.” Being on watch means just that — scanning the horizon for lights, watching the radar and listening to radio traffic. It’s easy to “veg” when its dark and everybody’s asleep, so rotate the man on watch at least every two hours. You can use a watch clock to help stay awake.

Use Technology — It’s not enough to have radar, or even to have your radar on, if it isn’t being used effectively. Or worse yet, not being watched at all. Train yourself on your boat’s radar during daylight under controlled conditions. And learn to use important features such as Guard Zone Alarm that can alert you to vessels coming within a set perimeter. Many GPS/chart plotters feature an Anchor Watch Alarm that can alert you if your boat swings too far or breaks loose when anchored at night. The increasing affordability of Class B AIS (Automatic Identification System) equipment can alert you to approaching commercial vessels — such as when drift fishing at night in the shipping lanes.

Get Lit. This seems obvious, but the better illuminated your vessel is, the more visible it will be to other vessels. Make sure your running lights and all around anchor light are operational. If possible, keep your spreader lights or additional lighting on for additional visibility.

Slow Down. Maintain safe speed when traveling at night and/or in weather that limits your visibility. An extra set of eyes (or two) at the helm helps provide an added margin of safety.

Use your head, your technology and your better judgment when fishing or traveling in the dark, and you’ll stay safe to fish another day.

Give your Onboard Electronics a Pre-Season "Tune-Up" With C-Map PC Planner

Monday, June 22, 2009 by Ron Ballanti

You’ll Be Amazed at All You Can Do With Your PC and a MAX or NT+ Compatible Chart Plotter

Many conscientious boaters prepare for the summer boating season by giving their vessel a thorough “once over.” As they should, they carefully check their boat’s batteries, wiring and connections, monitor critical fluid levels, examine through-hull fittings and replace dirty fuel filters, to name just a few. The reasoning behind this is sound; nobody wants to start the first day of the long-awaited boating season with problems — or worse yet, a breakdown.

Boaters can achieve this same peace of mind with their marine electronics as well, provided they have a GPS/chart plotter that’s compatible with C-MAP electronic charts. Using Jeppesen Marine’s C-MAP PC Planner software and a home computer, boaters can make sure that their electronics are “tuned up” and ready to optimize boating enjoyment this summer.

Developed as a computer voyage planning tool for sailors, power cruisers and saltwater anglers, PC-Planner opens the door to accomplishing much more. Of course, it’s great way to spend time planning the navigational aspects of future vacations cruising tropical shores or trolling fish-rich waters. You can load and view your C-MAP charts on your PC and create and edit marks and routes, just as you would on your chart plotter. You can view embedded aerial photos of inlets and harbors you plan to visit, check out marina facilities and layouts and even check tide and current predictions for safer and more efficient cruising. But this just scratches the surface.

Here are some other “nuts and bolts” ways PC-Planner can help streamline your fishing and cruising time beginning with the season’s very first trip:

Fishermen, Does This Sound Familiar? You see a fish sign on the sounder, so you hit mark on the chart plotter. A little while later, you see some more signs and hit mark again. This goes on, day after day, trip after trip. Before you know it, your chart plotter display looks like one giant black spot when you zoom out. Using PC Planner during the off season makes it easy to eliminate the clutter of old and un-needed user marks, while editing and saving those that are important.

Go To BassRip, Not WPT0034. It’s always better to save a user mark with a name that explains what it is and what it means. Most boaters, however, never get time to go back and edit these generic marks with names that actually make sense and will help them later. With PC Planner, you can make use of your downtime by going through your best fishing spots, naming them and organizing them. This is also applies for anchorages, great dive spots - anywhere you want to identify for the future.

Log Important Data. Most chart plotters can be interfaced with your echo sounder’s depth output and temperature sensor, so every mark you save can also include water depth and temperature, as well as the time of day. This is great way to create a log of each fishing hot spot, along with important depth/temp information to help you establish a pattern for the bite. Saving this data for future reference and study using PC Planner can help make next fishing season more productive.

Clean Your Screen. PC-Planner is the ideal way to clean up screen clutter of all kinds. At your computer, in your home or office, you can also clear out old track marks and routes, further de-cluttering your chart plotter display and opening up needed memory. When the next boating season comes, you’ll enjoy the benefits, which also include an organized waypoint list that makes it easy to find what you want. Once you make the changes you want, you can use the optional memory card to easily transfer data between your computer and compatible chart plotter.

You’ll do it When it’s Easy. Even though you can perform most of these “tune up” functions on your chart plotter, they’re often neglected. Why? Because it’s time consuming and let’s face it, when you’re on your boat you usually have better things to do. PC-Planner makes it easy. Rather than “navigating” through keypads and on-screen alphanumeric menus to name and edit waypoints, you can use your computer’s keyboard. It’s as easy as typing a letter.

Print Out a User Point/Route Log. Once you’ve finished editing your way points, another great feature of PC Planner is that you can print out hard copies of these user points for safe keeping. Or if you want, you can “loan” them to a really good fishing buddy!

Print Out a “Chartlet.” On the subject of printing, another great utility of PC Planner is being able to print out a chart screen with your user points and routes overlaid on top of the chart. This is a great way to keep your own hard copy of your activities from past seasons’ trips or your favorite fishing spots. If you have a little experience with basic graphics programs, you can even paste favorite photos (like big fish) alongside these same user points on the hard copy.

Back Up Plan. With your computer, PC-Planner and a memory card, you can perform another very important—and often neglected—tune up service for your marine electronics. After editing and naming important waypoints — favorite fishing areas, dive spots, anchorages, etc. — you can quickly and easily back them up and store them safely. This is a also a great way to create and update a permanent digital log of your best fishing and diving spots. Backing up your user points and routes is also useful prior to updating your chart plotter’s software. Most manufacturers provide updates on a routine basis, not only to fix “bugs” but also to add new features. Contact your chart plotter manufacturer for further information. If there is a software update, you can use PC Planner to accomplish this task during the off-season.

Have Fun. Instead of being a chore, tuning-up your electronics and planning future trips with PC Planner is fun. And everybody knows that prior planning makes for a smoother trip on the water, whether fishing, cruising or sailing. Organizing your fishing spots, using your C-MAP charts to check out potential new ones, mapping out your big summer cruising vacation— all this is a great way to get ready for the year’s biggest boating adventures.

At only $149 (or $179 with memory card), PC-Planner makes a great gift and an important accessory for any avid boater. Call Jeppesen Marine’s Cape Cod, Massachusetts office at 800.424.2627 or visit www.jeppesen.com/lightmarine to learn more about PC requirements and chart plotter compatibility.

Catch a Break, Find the Fish - Part 2

Tuesday, May 5, 2009 by Ron Ballanti

Experienced offshore anglers know the importance of finding temperature breaks (lines dividing cooler and warmer water) when seeking out pelagic gamefish like tuna, marlin, yellowtail and dorado.

For reasons covered in Part 1, these constantly shifting, moving breaks are natural concentration points for baitfish and the saltwater gamefish that feed on them. On the water, smart boaters keep their eyes open for tell-tail signs that give away these prime fishing areas. Smarter yet is using available technology at home and on the water to pinpoint these temperature breaks and to fish them more effectively and efficiently once found.

Top-performing offshore anglers begin each fishing trip by doing their homework. They log onto subscription services like Southern California's www.TempBreak.com to review the latest available satellite sea surface temperature (SST) data. This website lets you view color-coded temperature maps overlaid onto coastline marine maps on your home or office computer so you can identify key areas to target. When you scroll the cursor across the screen at this fisherman's website, you can see how far a break is from your home port and also identify the latitude/longitude numbers for any point on the map. When you find a temperature break located around any of the offshore seamounts, canyons and ledges found on C-Map charts (especially the detailed bathymetric C-Map fishing contour charts), this is an area worth investigating. Temperature breaks gather fish. Sea floor fluctuations and contours gather fish. The two combined are like a neon sign saying, "Fish here!"

You can transfer this latitude/longitude information easily to your GPS marine chart plotter so you can leave the dock or launch ramp with both a plan for success and a visual guide during the day. Knowing where you're headed before you set out will put you ahead of the competition as well as save you time, fuel and money.

With the recent technology that simplifies integrating Sirius® satellite weather data (including current SST data) with select C-Map-compatible electronic chart plotters from various manufacturers, anglers have an even more powerful tool at their disposal. By overlaying real-time SST maps right onto your electronic chart plotter, you'll be able to stay on top of changing conditions as well as the fish.

That's good news for you and your crew — but bad news for Mr. Tuna.

How Things Work: GPS

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 by Jim Rhodes

When I went to sea in the early 1970s, the state-of-the-art for maritime navigation on the open ocean was to make imprecise estimates of a ship's position through celestial observations of the sun, moon, stars and planets. Using a sextant, we would measure the angle of a celestial body above the horizon and then laboriously work through complicated trigonometric functions to translate those measurements into lines of position on a plotting sheet — often an hour or more after the sight was taken. Between celestial fixes (which could be several days) we used dead reckoning to estimate our position.

I got a thrill out of pacing the bridge wing at dawn and dusk with a sextant, stop watch and starfinder, trying to pick out Sirius, Kochab or Alpheratz. I felt an almost mystical bond with the ancient Arab astronomers and mathematicians who first figured it all out back in the Middle Ages.

Now, of course, we still look to the skies for guidance. But instead of the stars, we use radio signals from satellites to fix our position on the earth's surface. While I still feel a certain level of nostalgia for the "bad old days" of celestial navigation and dead reckoning, it's undeniable that marine electronic GPS has made a tremendous difference in maritime navigation and an inestimable contribution to safety at sea. Electronic GPS provides a real-time, constantly updated, highly accurate ship's position, liberating the navigator from the need to plot fixes and dead reckoning tracks onto paper navigation charts. Electronic GPS is the fundamental enabling technology that permits us to navigate on C-Map electronic charts.

So how does GPS work? I hope you won't mind if I oversimplify what is actually a very complicated process. Basically, a GPS receiver calculates its position through triangulation — that is to say, by crossing three or more lines of position. Each GPS satellite transmits a radio message that contains both its position in space and a super-precise time signal. The satellite signal is transmitted in a form known as a pseudorandom code and a GPS receiver generates an identical pseudorandom code. By matching the received code with its own generated code, the GPS receiver is able to determine the distance to each satellite. It does this by measuring the elapsed time it takes the signal to transit from satellite to receiver. (The radio-wave signal travels at roughly the speed of light — 186,000 miles per second.) With three satellites, you can thus determine your position in two dimensions, which is fine for surface navigation. With four or more satellites, you can compute a three-dimensional fix. (The fourth signal yields altitude.)

In my next blog, we'll look at GPS errors and how they can be minimized through differential techniques.

In the meantime, you can read a good tutorial on basic principles of GPS on the Trimble website at www.trimble.com/gps/howgps.shtml. Trimble was originally a pioneer in electronic navigation instruments, but has since given up its marine navigation business in favor of highly precise GPS-based surveying technology.

Landmarks Give an Added Level of Confidence

Thursday, April 23, 2009 by Ron Ballanti

While the amount of landmark information shown on a particular marine chart depends upon several things — particularly the scale of the chart — some navigators may wonder why a building, water tank, tree, church or television tower would appear at all on a navigation chart. After all, it is unlikely that a boater would encounter these terrestrial objects during a coastal cruise, day sail or marine fishing trip. That is, unless he or she took a serious wrong turn!

It is no coincidence that such landmarks (as well as cultural features such as roads or airports) are shown primarily along the shoreline regions where navigators can see them. Features that are large enough or high enough to be seen at some distance offshore are also indicated. These landmarks are present on navigational charts to the extent that mariners can see them and they can assist navigators in their travels.

Such landmarks can be quite helpful to navigators who are trying to find their way on the water. The landmarks provide boaters with visual confirmation of the boaters' position and their travel direction, especially in an environment where no visual references like buoys or lights are available. Seeing a prominent coastal landmark on the chart allows the navigator to take a bearing and orient himself to his surroundings. In simpler terms, landmarks provide an added level of confidence that you are where you think you are.

I know from personal experience that visual line-ups like these also are useful in situations that require exact boat positioning — for example, locating and setting anchor on a small fishing wreck or reef. Even with the technological wonders of WAAS GPS and high-resolution marine chart plotters, I frequently find myself using visual landmarks such as buildings, water tanks or smokestacks to hit the mark on a spot that might be only the size of a kitchen table.

Navigation charts use a variety of symbols, figures, numerals and abbreviations to represent landmarks. Unlike conventional road maps, the limited space and the volume of data required on marine maps mean that a chart's numerous features are represented by a mere dot, circle, letter or squiggly line. Symbols for structures may not be. There is no way of knowing when correctly identifying these landmarks on a chart might prove to be critical to safety. That's why it is a good idea to be able to decipher them and to practice cross-referencing landmarks with your charts as you cruise your familiar home waters.

Chapter E of U.S. Chart #1 provides a complete guide to landmarks.