Route planning help

Trimix · 27 April 2015, 09:28

Can anyone recommend something I can use on the web to help plan a cruise.

My Garmin is on the boat, and the boat is in Corsica - so I cant use that until I get there. In the meantime Id like to measure distances so I can plan my stops and choose harbours with fuel for the cruise I'm thinking about.

I cant seem to measure distances on Google maps unless I go by road !

Bucksribster · 27 April 2015, 09:46

Try the Navionics webapp Navionics Webapp

There is a 'dividers' symbol bottom right which brings up two moveable pins , and gives the distance between them.

Trimix · 27 April 2015, 09:58

Oooh, cheers for that, I will have a look.

I have also found this site:A tool to easily calculate the distance and cost of a boat or yacht itinerary

Looks OK as well.

Trimix · 27 April 2015, 10:12

Well, that's buggered up any chance of doing any work now

I'm going to spend all day planning routes, checking harbours / fuel and then booking hotels. Goggling marinas, beaches and general daydreaming.

Trimix · 27 April 2015, 10:27

Buckribster - on that Navoinics tool I cant seem to do any more than stick two pins in the chart and get a distance between them.

I suppose I could keep doing that leg by leg and add them up manually, but am I missing something ? Can I plot my whole route made up of many legs on screen ?

Cheers

Poly · 27 April 2015, 10:56

You can get measurements on bing maps IIRC. Surprised if you can't on Google too.

On bing you can string together a wholecroute and edit points etc and it will give total distance. It's not perfect but for free not too shoddy either.

Personally I think for planning there is a lot to be said for a table full of paper cartography rather than eve a 15" laptop screen...

Jeff · 27 April 2015, 11:23

HAve you got a copy of Garmin Mapsource ? ( as opppsed to Homeport)

If so I have (v2009) charts for the Med I could send a copy of you to use on your PC. Not exactly 'up to date' but aside for bouyage not much changes - you can then use this to plot waypoints and routes, save to card and upload to your plotter

I presume yours is the newer plotter with SD card instead of the old Garmin datacard - but I think this shoudl still work - save as Garmin DB or even as GPX ?

Let me know

Jeff

JamesF · 27 April 2015, 12:00

For quick plans if you're not interested in hazards, bathymetry, actual navigation, etc, and just want some rough distances, there's always Skyvector (SkyVector: Flight Planning / Aeronautical Charts). It's really best for flight simulators, but it can plot multi-segment paths using click-and-drag lat/lon points, and give you leg distances (in nautical miles), times and totals.

As long as you can recognise significant places by the outline of the coast, it might be sufficient. It's certainly no substitute for a real chart, though.

Trimix · 27 April 2015, 13:17

Thanks guys. I will check Bing again and see if I can do as you suggest Poly.

I do prefer paper maps, but only have one so far (will buy more later) However, while at work with a fast internet connection and boring conference calls I can pass the time away by looking at maps online

Jeff, thanks for your offer - I will check and see what I do have on my PC at home and come back to you.

r3tmac · 27 April 2015, 17:38

Trimix, perhaps you can try this out.
I know you have a Garmin but, It is for Raymarine, but it does allow you to plan your waypoints and routes on your home computer.
There is a free download version you can try out
Voyage Planner Data Management Library

boristhebold · 27 April 2015, 17:56

Paper Charts, latest Nautical Almanac, Latest Tidal Flow Book, Weather Sites (for the areas your going to go through) plus grab a copy of RYA passage planning. Might also be worth doing a quick course with someone or a refresher on navigation if you haven't practiced much recently.

Top Tip, dont rely on electronic nav aids, cos Capatain Murphies law dictates when you really need it, it will probably malfunction.

Sounds like a good trip, take some photos for us all and best of luck, hope weather is great for you.

Jeff · 27 April 2015, 18:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trimix

Thanks guys. I will check Bing again and see if I can do as you suggest Poly.

I do prefer paper maps, but only have one so far (will buy more later) However, while at work with a fast internet connection and boring conference calls I can pass the time away by looking at maps online

Jeff, thanks for your offer - I will check and see what I do have on my PC at home and come back to you.

This is a screenshot of the chart zoomed in to the North of the island

kerlstone · 27 April 2015, 18:26

Hi Trimix,
try Google Earth, go to tools/ ruler/ path, you can measure any distance you like.

Gerry.

r3tmac · 28 April 2015, 03:38

Here is another terrific one that calculates distance between waypoints that you click on the map .
Click on the waypoints toolbar then zoom in to where you want to go, click a waypoint,then a second one and so on. It adds it all up in distance.
Navigation tools - Google Maps Distance Calculator
It measures in Nautical miles.
To convert to kilometers go here Nautical Miles to Kilometers table

Low Flyer · 28 April 2015, 07:55

http://www.garmin.com/uk/maps/bluechart

Trimix · 28 April 2015, 08:59

Ah, brilliant - thanks guys, there's plenty of useful info for me to waste away several hours of planning / daydreaming

The good thing about where I'm going is that there are no tides (well, only an inch or two at most) the weather stays the same for long periods of time, so if its flat and sunny it will be like that for weeks. Even when its not, the waves are big rolling swells, not that choppy mess we get in the Solent. I did some experimentation over Xmass in some large rollers, just surfing on the top, or scooting along in the trough. They were large and predictable.

Unlike the Solent its also pretty simple for Navigation. But I will take a backup compass / paper map / GPS etc. Its quite mountainous so you can just point the boat at the next headland as you can see it miles away. If the weather does start to change I can zip back to my start/end point in double quick time. I'm also taking two 20L jerry cans of fuel just in case. Fuel is only at the main marinas and they are far apart.

I've got a decent range at cruising speed, trouble is when its flat and sunny its so easy to think cruising is 45knotts

I'm also planning on a few nights where I will bivy on the beach in some of the isolated coves along the way. So a line and bait as well as something to start a fire will be added to the list of stuff to take.

9D280 · 29 April 2015, 00:23

Maybe a bit laborious but free..... I have used a combo of Google maps <right click -what's here> to generate a lat-long then paste into EasyGPS.

EasyGPS is a free download. Set it to your preferred gps and it will export the waypoints, routes etc to your plotter.

Also keep an eye on MemoryMap. Software is a bit clunky but they do have some spectacular mapping offers every so often ....

jambo · 29 April 2015, 01:24

At home I use Google Earth on PC and The Fly to Me series of zaps on my iPhone for planning so far okay
Measure no
Problem

Sent from my iPhone using RIB Net

gotchiguy · 30 April 2015, 19:19

Any reason not to use Garmin homeport? It's quite easily available online if you know where to look, as are the maps so you don't need the card from the boat. It can do fuel calcs and you can do as many routes as you want and then put onto the plotter. There is also the equivalent for iPad which you can then sync wirelessly when you get to the boat.