On 25/09/2013 10:39 PM, Sir Gregory Hall, Esq· wrote:
"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 25 Sep 2013 15:00:53 -0400, " Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·"
åke wrote:


Update. I've downloaded and installed it and it's pretty cool. I also
downloaded ALL the free NOAA Vector charts for Florida. I like
the fact that they are updated weekly. So now I have all the Raster
charts for Florida and all the updated Vector charts. They even show
in night time colors. There is a row of boxes on the bottom probably
15 or so of them and each one displays a different chart. The green
ones are the Vector official navigation charts and the gray ones are
the older Raster Charts. I might have delete all those older Raster
charts out of the designated folder and download all the updated
Raster charts from NOAA.

The help files indicate that the program can use quite a few
different electronic chart formats so I'll be searching for all
charts for areas I might sail to. There are even up to date pilot
charts of blue water sailing that I've got to download and place
in the designated folder.

It was easy to configure the GPS com port so I've even got it set
up with the USB GPS already.

Kewl! Thanks again. Do you use it yourself when cruising.

===

I'll be using it more now that I have a new AIS capable VHF radio. The
abilty to track commercial traffic by name and call letters (not to
mention course, speed, CPA, etc.) will be useful at times, especially
when coming back into the Keys from the Bahamas. We usually end up
doing that at night and the amount of large ship traffic out there is
astounding.

Up until recently I've been using Maptech OSN and it has served us
well. I have almost 40,000 nautical miles of saved track lines for
all of our cruises since we bought the trawler 9 years ago.


The two programs seem to be similar so the learning curve for
the open source program is not steep.

I don't care for that AIS nonsense, myself. I've ridden motorcycles
and bicycles my whole life and I've survived intact mostly because
my philosophy is that nobody ever sees me so I have to take full
responsibility for avoiding all the idiots. I can't rely on them to even
be aware of me. AIS is like that. It won't work unless the shipping
sees me and they don't pay attention to something so small that
it represents no danger to them.

One time, crossing to the Bahamas at night, I ran into a flotilla of
blacked out Navy ships doing some kind of a training exercise.

There were dozens of them. One destroyer was on a collision
course so I luffed up and it passed a couple hundred yards
off my bow. I used the VHF to try to contact them and lo and
behold they actually replied. I enquired if it was safe to pass
directly astern (thinking they could be dragging some
anti-submarine apparatus) but they said that would present
no problems. WOW they do make quite the wake.

Back when I was in white and gold, I watched, with a group of
others, a US CGN leave our little port (military) He had to
join up with a commercial dredged channel, not very wide.

He wandered slowly to the ENE to link up and turned. The area is
occasionally prone to Anti-Nuke nutsos and he didn't want to get
hampered in the channel. He was headed now WNW.

If you have a reactor as a power plant, you use it. So he
put the pedal to the metal and let it rip.

Not a wake, a rooster tail fully 50' high off the stern. We could
see it from 2 miles away.

They do move some water when they go by.