AS SEEN IN THE SEPT/OCT 2006 ISSUE

Where will technology take us tomorrow?

Navigation is the art of getting from one place to another, safely and efficiently. But what if you found yourself lost in an area that you didn’t recognize? This was just one of the challenges the first recreational anglers faced just a few short decades ago. Navigation and its accompanying hardware have since come a long way.

The first record of vessels large enough to carry cargo for trade dates back thousands of years ago, and that’s exactly when navigation was first born. From there, centuries went by with little advancement to navigation. The first mariners were left with no other option than to stay close to shore, eventually learning to find their way by sight of landmarks. They traveled up and down the coast from port to port only by day and sought calm harbors or a safe anchorage at night, frequently running aground or succumbing to the perils of the sea when faced with adverse conditions. They did not have charts but rather a simple list of directions, somewhat of a primitive form of today’s cruising guides.

As the decades passed, when experienced mariners did venture out of sight of land, navigators attempted to determine their latitude by measuring the height of the sun. When forced to travel under the cover of darkness, they were said to plot their course by the North Star and major constellations with tools such as the cross-staff and the astrolabe, though this was far from an exact science. Records show the Greeks and Phoenicians were actually the first mariners to regularly navigate at night. Often they traveled by bonfires set on mountaintops- the earliest form of Aids to Navigation.

Although vessels could follow the movement of the sun or the track of the stars and get a rough idea as to how far north or south they were, early navigators still had no way to determine longitude, and therefore, once out of sight of land, had no idea how far east or west they were. Estimates were made based upon the time it took to reach their intended destination, a simple form of dead-reckoning still in use today.

The continuing development of navigation tools helped in a big way, and was motivated by commerce and trade, then by the riches of discovery. One of the earliest man-made navigation tools was the mariner’s compass, an early form of today’s magnetic compass. The most practical use of the mariner’s compass at the time, early in the 11th Century, was to identify the direction of the wind rather than the direction of travel. Much more valuable was the invention of the lead line, which was used for measuring the depth of water and the nature of the bottom. A predetermined length of line, weighted with lead, had graduated markings to determine depth. The lead was coated with wax to bring up samples of the bottom. With these advancements, early navigators were able to use a combination of the sun, stars, wind direction, and depth soundings to establish their approximate position when land could not be seen.

These brave early navigators were also creative in compensating for their lack of accurate technology. Floki Vilgjerdarsson, a great Viking explorer, carried aboard a cage of ravens. When he thought land was near, he would release one of the birds. If the bird climbed high in the sky and circled the boat, land was no where to be seen, but if it took off in one particular direction, the vessel followed, believing the raven was headed straight toward a distant shoreline.

By the 13th Century, mariners realized that maps would be helpful and began logging detailed records of their voyages that land-based mapmakers later used to create the first nautical charts called portolans. Portolan charts, created on animal skins, were rare and very expensive and often highly guarded so that rival traders would not have access to the valuable information. What they lacked in accuracy, they made up for in beauty. Land and ports on the chart were highly decorated with depictions of castles and flags. The size of the land on the chart was more of a reflection of its importance to trade rather than its actual geographical size. The charts did not have latitude or longitude lines, but did have compass roses indicating bearings between major ports. They were, of course, not very accurate because the ability to measure distances at sea had not yet been developed.

Finally, a major advancement made navigating much more accurate, the invention of the chip log. Essentially a crude speedometer, a light line was knotted at regular intervals and weighted to drag in the water. It was tossed overboard, and the pilot counted the knots that were let out during a specific period of time. From this he could estimate the speed the vessel was traveling. Interestingly, the chip log has long been replaced by much more sophisticated equipment, but we still refer to miles per hour on the water as knots.

The hazards of sea travel during this period are clearly illustrated by Columbus' experiences in the late 1400s. His journal reveals that he did not even know how to calculate latitude properly, his determinations being way off. Like all mariners at the time, he was unable to calculate longitude. When he stumbled across the Americas, he believed he had reached India.

Skipping a few hundred years for the sake of brevity, the 20th Century saw advances in navigation beyond anything early explorers could have ever imagined. The driving force behind these developments was no longer trade and exploration, but war. However, many of these technological advancements and instruments have since been adapted for recreational purposes. Lately, we have become so dependent on these electronic devices that today, most recreational boaters don’t even know how to plot a dead-reckoning course.

The introduction of chart plotters and electronic charts

If you watch old war movies, you can't miss them- the ancestors of today's multifunction microprocessor powered chart plotters. Old warships were equipped with massive manual plotters that featured a primitive analog dead-reckoning computer which mechanically moved a pencil across the surface of a paper chart. That was the ship’s course. Since then, electronic navigation and its accompanying hardware and software have taken giant leaps forward.

Most recently, user friendly electronic chart plotters have been hailed as the most significant advance in maritime navigation equipment since the advent of radar, providing mariners of all types with information they need for safe and efficient voyages both locally and to destinations afar. Navionics established itself as a pioneer in electronic charting, introducing the first electronic charts to the world in 1984, and opened a new era of navigation. The benefits of electronic charting to the safety of navigation have created a large and enthusiastic market that continues to grow each year.

Digital chart plotting beyond our wildest imaginations.

Let us not forget that more than twenty years ago, when the first electronic charts were introduced to the public, microprocessors were very slow, and vector charts were simple maps of coastlines with limited geographic coverage which featured simple representations of aids to navigation. By the end of the 20th Century, chart plotters featured embedded microprocessors and were able to display large volumes of data very quickly and clearly. The advanced equipment provided a virtual view of the helmsman's entire world. Along with the vessel's precise position, the screen displayed information from the radar, sonar, weather data, video inputs, and so much more in numerous configurations and cartographic choices.
 
Today, chart plotter displays range from something barely the size of a PDA to larger-than-life flat screen monitors that are common in the salon and on the bridge of many of the largest yachts. A basic chart plotter can cost as little as $200 for a no-frills unit or more than $20,000 when fully expanded and integrated with multiple sensors.

When shopping for the “best” chart plotter, the screen should be one of your main concerns. Regardless of screen size, the image must be clear and easy to see in the most challenging conditions- even when you are wearing polarized sunglasses. The screen's backlight must be adjustable if the unit is to be useful at night. The latest models have a night mode which converts the entire screen with the simple push of a button to a non-blinding display. Selection and control of the display should have an instant one-keystroke ‘escape’ option to restore basic vessel position display.

Rapid advances in chart plotter and electronic chart technologies continue to help ensure the protection of mariners and coastal ecosystems. State-of-the-art technologies integrate to create highly efficient, reliable navigational systems which significantly reduce the risk of accidents and groundings.                                    
The latest generation of chart plotters feature a digital multi-function touch-screen sunlight viewable monitor displaying 3-dimensional bathymetric charts with full color radar overlay, DGPS/WAAS chart plotting capabilities, integrated auto-pilot, duel frequency forward looking and side scanning sonar, real-time weather data, VHF communication equipment, computerized onboard vessel and engine monitoring system, and multi-media entertainment into one seamless network with multiple station capabilities. This space-age equipment provides users with port photos, a variety of viewing perspectives, and ancillary databases for tides, currents and land based utilities. What the user is presented with is complete and total system integration in a single user-friendly display- Whew!

You may be asking yourself, “What’s left?” Where could technology possibly take us from here? In the future, it’s likely boaters will be able to sit comfortably in a helm chair while doing nothing more than barking voice commands at their vessel’s onboard command center. It’s likely the equipment will safely navigate the crew out of the marina, to and from the most productive fishing grounds and back home again, while avoiding obstructions along the way, all while monitoring vital engine and vessel systems and adjusting accordingly to provide the maximum fuel efficiency and the most comfortable ride. 

Although, regardless of how sophisticated all of this onboard equipment becomes, it’s extremely important to mention that nothing can replace a tangible paper chart and the know-how to plot a course and safely navigate from one point to the next. New boaters should never make the mistake of believing that if they’re vessel is equipped with the latest technology, that they’re not susceptible to accidents and unforeseen mishaps. A watchful eye and a clear understanding of seamanship can be imitated, but never duplicated. Safe travels and catch ‘em up!

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