In article ,
says...
Mark Borgerson wrote in
.net:

In defense of the Canadian Hydrographic Service, they have about
the same coastline as the US, but only 10% as large an economy
to tax to support their efforts. Still, a more reasonable
pricing scheme would garner more unit sales with reasonably
low web-based distribution costs.

Mark Borgerson

Hi Mark, I was not critting Can Hydro, they do a lot with little, a friends
Dad worked at Ocean Sciences in Sidney BC, what I was critting was a
stupid gov't move to sell the rights to the charts in the first place.
I have no idea what charts sold for before NDI, or even if there was
digital by Canada before they bought rights.

I agree that CHS is doing the best they can within their budget. In my
experience in Desolation Sound and the Gulf Islands, the electronic
produce is good enough for the prudent mariner.

I do think that the Canadian government made a mistake in the deal with
NDI. They basically gave the data to NDI on terms that let NDI apply
thethumbscrews to the yachtsmen and cruising sailors. I'm not an expert
on the marketing of charts and data, and I'm probably predjudiced by
some fringe benefits of my naval service. Just before I left the USN,
I was on temprorary duty aboard an destroyer escort that was updating
its chart library. The chief quartermaster was about to discard a few
dozen BC and sourthern Alaska charts that had been superseded. I
offered to 'dispose' of them, no questions asked,and was given all the
old charts. The DE never got closer to BC than Pearl Harbor and was sold
to Indonesia a few years later. I did my cruise planning from 1974 to
1989 with those charts!

I too use Bluecharts, on a Garmin Legend, not sure if they are as detailed
as Canadian paper charts.. have a bit more comparing to do....

The trawler I chartered last August from Cooper had a full set of paper
charts and cruising guides. There is a bit more detail on the the
paper charts. I always had both the paper charts and the GPS with
BlueCHarts in the cockpit. You could probably get by with one or the
other, but they won't let you take the paper charts with penciled
tracks when you go home. For quite a few years, I took my own paper
charts so I could bring home the pencil marks.

I suspect that I'm not alone in finding that some of the best
moments on a cruise are those spent alone in the cockpit comparing
paper charts with GPS data and electronic charts then reading the
cruising guide to decide where to go next. Add a camera and a
cup of cocoa, and you've got the formula for a perfect morning!

http://www.oes.to/DSound2006/DS06.html

(A blatant attempt go get a few more visitors to my picture
site before it disappears)

Mark Borgeron