Pre-Packaged Cruises

[brucehawsker]

Does anyone know of either commercially available or 'shareware' sets of waypoints that can be loaded onto a plotter? Say I wanted to go from Lymington to Brixham? Can I load a set of safe waypoints for a route from anywhere?

Cheers

Bruce

[Richard B]

Hi Bruce,

You can obtain "waypoint directories" and I think someone has published one on-line somewhere.

There are a number of reasons for not using these, though...
1. The waypoints may not be correct
(You have no guide to the competancy of the author)
2. The course between any two given waypoints may not be appropriate
(course may be over the ground, or over/near to a hazard which is only present in certain conditions)
3. Widespread use of popular waypoints could lead to an increased risk of collision
(esp. if other craft use autopilot)
4. The waypoint may be a physical object that you want to avoid, not head directly towards!

IMHO much better to plot your own waypoints - use a chart and observe hazards and any other interesting features that will occur along the way.

[brucehawsker]

Richard, I agree 100% for the interested / keen user.

However, I have been asked by a company to investigate whether there is a market for such a set of waypoints which are properly tested and commentaried with warnings. This for the less committed boating market who want a safe 'fix'. I accept the risk of hitting physical objects. But surely the risk of collision is not that real?

Bruce

[Richard B]

I reckon it's greater than you might think.

I've been out in open water on a couple of occasions when I've had to take avoiding action from large cruisers. On both occasions the helm was sat at the indoor position, not on the flybridge. If these helmsmen are part of the "less committed boating market" then I think there's a real danger to them, and rest of us, if they are encouraged to think for themselves even less than they do at the moment.

[DGR]

The Reeds Almanac has some waypoint lists in it for various features - with the usual "Check Waypoints by Plotting Position On Chart Before Use" caveat - but not routes.

Free with Reeds this year was the Marina and Waypoint Guide 2004, which gives 'safe water' points off harbour and river mouths, and it does imply a route, observing that it passes "close to possible dangers". It also has waypoints/routes that are further offshore - which sort of implies that they are safe(r).

IMHO, however, messing about doing the prep and working it out myself is half the fun (especially when I get it right!!) - so I'm not really sure who the target market would be. If it's Richard's "less committed's" who would buy the info to simplify going out on the water, then I can see his point.

As for collisions, how many different routes between point (A) and (B) will the book have? How many copies do they think they'd sell? It wouldn't take long to meet someone with the same book............

Now then - where's my lottery ticket......

Dylan...

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by DGR

Richard's "less committed's"

hey, they're not mine!

[DGR]

[tim griffin]

Richard is right
its a very dangerous situation you could place yourself in by following a pre packaged cruise as you call it. I can imagine the scenario's described by Richard boats all heading for the same waypoint.The RYA in their shorebased courses cover this subject in the use of waypoint directories and how they could potentially cause collision .Its much better and safer to plan your route as DGR said . I think this sort of thing is not a good idea, much better to get some training in navigation, boathandling and seamanship

[steedthrust]

Prehaps you could have outbound and inbound 'routes'

Now how big a rear view mirror can I fit to my console. Ambling along nice steady 15knots, catching some rays, meanwhile a S/S Predator is bearing down on me at 50knots!!!

IMHO a definite no no.

[Scary Des]

Although I accept the general point that it is not a good idea to have two boats on the same course, surely the inaccuracy of GPS and ability of a helm to steer a truly straight line will give some separation

Additionally I expect that most people given the task of plotting a course for a particular point will come up with virtually the same route as someone else, usually a straight line

Des.