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Always Hope For the Best
But Plan for the worst
As mentioned in my previous article I am an avid boater. I have around 22 years and countless hours out there on the water. I am by no stretch a full-on sailor, but I know enough to get by safely and enjoyably.
One thing I do know about boating is that it often requires a course. These days, you have modern electronic equipment that does a lot of the work for you.
The old fashioned way was to pull out a chart and mark the destination then start drawing the lines. This is called chart plotting. You look at your chart, plot your course.. Yeah, complicated stuff, it’s like rocket surgery.
Often times there is a disconnect from the chart to the water. The depth and the channel markings are generally spot on. There is a negligible difference between the chart and the actual water way. The main conflicts are with the debris, weather, waves, and other traffic.
To the non-boat pilot looking at the chart and the plot lines, the actions needed may seem quite simple.
-We will head 080 degrees for 8 nautical miles until we hit waypoint 135 then make a left heading 065 degrees and travel for another 15 nautical miles — and so on. -
That agreed upon course can reviewed, adjusted and approved.
