Schedule:
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
9 am – 11 am: Electronic Navigation - $65.00
Bob Sweet
You have a chartplotter on board, but do you truly know how to use it? This moving map display has revolutionized marine navigation. Chartplotters provide our primary means of navigation, but using these devices can be a bit of a challenge. Many functions are buried in the menu system, and the screens provide a limited view to just a few miles around us.
There are several phases of navigation. Before we start, we plan. That is often best done on a computer or tablet. We can then transfer to information to the chartplotter. We’ll talk about how. Underway, our chartplotter is our window to following the planned route and what is around us. We need to stay on course. Winds and currents can alter our path, so we need to deal with that. Lastly, we need to have situational awareness of our surroundings as a check to make sure we are where we think we are. Landmarks and navigation aids help us there.
Chartplotters today are essentially special-purpose computers driven by software someone at the manufacturer’s facility programmed. What they show you depends upon that software and the digital charts stored in the chartplotter. How they perform their tasks is usually not in the manual. In fact, manuals are not very useful.
Our mission is to provide what the manuals do not – how to use the chartplotter to navigate. We will explore planning on or off the chartplotter, activating the path or route, and navigating to stay on course. Meanwhile, you can use the chartplotter to tap into all sorts of information while it is keeping track of your navigation. We will explore scrolling and using the cursor.
Underway, we need to pay close attention to the activities around us, so navigation needs to be clear and information easily accessible. That means, we need to quickly be able to adjust screen presentations to show our present status, and progress. Often, view of our destination is off the screen. All of this needs to done with a minimal amount of attention as you have other duties as well.
Screen allocation is an important task, as your radar usually shares the screen with your chart and often your sounder. Next to the chart display, the radar screen is your second most valuable resource as it shows what is physically around you rather than the chart interpretation presented by the GPS. No prudent navigator relies upon a single resource for his position, so radar helps. We will discuss how to use radar to support your navigation tasks.
Tools such as routes and auto-routing are available, but as with any computer-based system, they are prone to perils if used without supervision. Your chartplotter can be used to drive your autopilot along a route with changes of course, but you need to make sure that it is doing what you expect.
We will also discuss supplemental tools such as chart overlays, bathymetric data, and even AIS for navigation.
9am - 11 am: Dialing In Your Trawler - $65.00
Jeff Merrill, CPYB
Over thirty years working with cruising clients and through his experiences on hundreds of trawlers, yacht broker Jeff Merrill has amassed a collection of good ideas that will help take some of the guesswork out of tracking various systems and equipment onboard your trawler. These are effective techniques that trawler owners are using to better monitor their vessels and they apply to most power cruising boats. It helps your awareness if you are observant and use quick reference reminders. Simple tips, like marking lines on your engine mounts, lines for tracking needles on analog gauges, color coding your anchor chain and many other common-sense tips make this an engaging and informative session.
11:30 am - 1 :30 pm: Weather Decision Making on the Inside Passage - $65.00
Chris Parker
You will learn all the basic concepts of weather in the Pacific NW, including: How to read a weather map, Synoptic features (high and low pressure systems, ridges, troughs, fronts), and Why each is important.
Brief discussion of how wind drives seas, and the importance of arriving at a wind forecast before considering forecast for seas (we will devote two hours to discussing seas / waves and their impact on your vessel in the Weather Seminar Wednesday, May 18, at 9am).
You'll learn about the 3 types of wind; Understanding seabreeze / landbreeze cycles; Catabatic winds and other Coastal effects; Understanding weather from a perspective of energy transfer; Concept of convergence and divergence, and how these drive your weather; and How to gauge forecast confidence.
Chris will present vital information about Weather Models and their limitations, including: Global versus mesoscale models; Temporal and spatial resolution of models; Model grid boxes; and Why models can not resolve weather phenomena in much of the interior Pacific NW.
And Chris offers real solutions you can use including: Tips for accessing real time Buoy information and CMC and NOAA text forecasts; How to use Buoys and the knowledge you gain in this Seminar to better interpret computer model forecasts, and CMC and NOAA text forecasts, so you know what's really going to happen in your location.
11;30 am - 1:30 pm: What To Look for Before You Call a Surveyor - $65.00
Jim Merrick
So, you want to buy a boat? What you should look for before making an offer and hiring a marine surveyor. A dream of the perfect cruising boat can be crushed when it's surveyed, but some of this deal-killers could have been detected early were it not for the fact that buying a boat is rarely a rational decision; we are often lead by our hearts. Buyers can slow down and take a look at the boat with the rose-colored glasses off. We will cover how to inspect hoses, valves, wiring mistakes, and signs of structural damage. There will be many photos of examples of what to look for.
2 pm - 5 pm: The Great Loop with Loopers Laurie and John Gray - $65.00
Counterintuitively, attendees at our Pacific Northwest events have shown a strong sense of bi-coastal curiosity. They talk a lot about wanting to do the “Great Loop.” Well folks, here’s your chance to find out more about it.
Boaters who circumnavigate the East Coast of U.S., using the Hudson River, Erie Canal, Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Intracoastal Waterway are called “Loopers” for having completed “The Great Loop.” Great Loopers Laurie & John Gray, will give a detailed briefing with plenty of time to answer questions. They will also address which boats are most suitable and how to budget. For more information and a Loop photo gallery, click here. Attendees will receive a complementary one-year membership to the American Great Loop Cruising Association.
3 pm – 5 pm: Charts have Changed - You Need to Know - $65.00
Bob Sweet
Your charts are essential – they are your primary reference for what’s there and how to safely get to where you are going. For decades, we have had both paper and electronic charts available. They form a complementary set of tools to provide us with the information we need.
NOAA has fundamentally changed charting, and it’s not necessarily good news for boaters. In a need for efficiency, NOAA is eliminating the paper chart and its electronic equivalent, RNC (Raster Navigation Chart). The push to focus on international standards makes your job as a cruiser or recreational boater a bit more of a challenge. The ENC (Electronic Navigation Chart) has become your sole resource. ENCs lack much of the information that you have likely used as a frame of reference while out on the water. And, ENCs are also changing. You will need some added skills to effectively understand and use them.
We explain how charts are changing and how best to get what you need to safely travel on the water. Ultimately, these changes impact both electronic and printed chart media. Commercial suppliers are looking at ways to fill the void with supplemental information and effective ways to portray the information you need. This is evolving, and we’ll discuss what is happening and how best to get what you need for your cruising.
3 pm - 5 pm: Managing Power - $65.00
Mike Beemer
There are many new choices for generating and managing power on your boat – solar cells, fuel cells, high-output alternators and of course – a genset. Did you know a genset on your boat is the most expensive power you can buy?
Our needs for power on our boats have became higher. Computers, tablets and iPhone chargers, microwave ovens, music systems and even the Instant Pot may be expected to run off a modern boat’s electrical system and many vessels don’t have a “balanced electrical system” that performs properly, has reliability, and is designed to last. This course is designed to help you understand how to design, check, maintain, and upgrade your electrical system to match the power requirements on your boat.
First, we will take a look at the typical power demands a modern electrical system supports.
Do you know how much your microwave draws from your inverter and storage system? We will total up the electrical draw different systems require. Next, we will cover the size of your power storage system, and how to monitor and keep it charged. We then will wrap up the seminar by providing other ways to produce energy and their cost: high-output alternators & battery chargers, solar options & controllers, new fuel cells, and even wind energy. After taking this course, you will become the ‘master’ of the energy equation onboard your cruising vessel.
