Blue Charts and Marine maps

hahaha I am just looking to extend my knowledge of mapping into the watery realm

Bonz

I think Willem's been drinking.. that two spelling mistake in one night, or miss typed words anyways.. LOL

Bonz,

Back in the day at "sea school" - anyyone who called nautical charts a "map" was required to buy the rest of the class a beer at the end of the day!

A few slabs later, I FINALLy managed to defeat the habit - having been very much into land maps for my 8 years with CALM - the habit was a hard one to break when switching to nautical nav with charts.

There are a whole raft of Paper charts for just the WA coast - so stocking the nautical charts (and chipsets for chart plotters) for all of Australia would be horrifically expensive - a chart chip for WA for a Furuno chart plotter will set you back the best part of $450.

Then there are different chips for different brand plotters too.
Next - the nautical charts are subject to alteration occasionally with "notices to mariners" published - requiring manual alternations / notations to be made to the charts to keep them up to date and so it goes.

The Chart Shop in Fremantle are the best source of paper (& laminated) charts in WA that I have come across and Taylor Marine for the Chart Chipsets...but it all costs a heck of a lot to keep it current.

Being a commercial skipper and with a surveyed passenger vessel - I am required to keep BOTH (Chipset) and Paper charts aboard at all times & up to date.

They are very handy for navigators - I think however their use in say a 4wd would be quite limited - any land based info on the chart is usually only what can be seen from sea looking back toward the land...

Sure IF you know how to read a nautical chart, you could plot a land position from triangulating known features at sea like lighthouses and lit markers etc if travelling along the coast...but again - that depends if you know how to read a chart, tak bearings and the differences between occulting, isophase and flashing lights and how to differentiate them - and count their sequence to locate them on the chart.

If anyones that interested - I'm more than happy to run an free informal weekend coastal navigation get together in WA and shed a little light on the mysteries of nautical navigation for interested recreational boaters showing how to get home safe with compass and chart - when your chart plotter / gps goes on the fritz.

You might never need the info but knowledge is no weight to carry around and one day it COULD possibly save yours and or others lives maybe.

Cheers