A small diamond shaped navigational aid sitting atop a steel pole warns of \u201crocks\u201d in letters so small even the use of binoculars can\u2019t distinguish them. If you are close enough to read the message on the aid, you risk going aground. <\/p>\n
Navigational aids are boaters’ road signs, much like signs on a highway, they direct you to safe passage. When accompanied by a chart of the area, they provide valuable information. Many boaters recognize cans, nuns and day beacons but others such as spherical red and white balls or diamond shaped aids can be confusing. If you do not understand the aids purpose or don\u2019t have a chart to identify it, you could have a major problem. <\/p>\n
The ability to read a chart overcomes the limitations of navigational equipment. A GPS, not equipped with a chart screen such as C charts, shows the direction to a position but the direction shown is \u201cas the crow flies\u201d (a straight line). It will not indicate shallows, reefs or even a land mass between two points.<\/p>\n
Charts show red and green navigational aids; they indicate water depth, note rocky (rky) areas and wrecks, boulders (bLd) and shoals. The charts show Lighthouses and lighted aids; you can decipher one from another (G\u201dl\u201dFLG 45).<\/p>\n
Boats with depth sounder transducers mounted astern should not rely solely on the sounders reading. Shoal areas, with quick depth changes, could place you hard aground by the bow while still showing good water depth astern. The use of a chart can show you where the shoals are and give you time to change course. <\/p>\n
The ability to navigate by a chart is invaluable. Area Charts are the most reliable; most have \u201cblow-ups\u201d displaying local rivers and ports– an advantage when cruising somewhere unfamiliar.<\/p>\n
To learn about charting, look for the latest edition of Chapman\u2019s Piloting, or check out the Power Squadron or Coast Guard Auxiliary classes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A small diamond shaped navigational aid sitting atop a steel pole warns of \u201crocks\u201d in letters so small even the use of binoculars can\u2019t distinguish them. If you are close enough to read the message on the aid, you risk going aground. Navigational aids are boaters’ road signs, much like signs on a highway, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[242,237,238],"tags":[409],"class_list":["post-2252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boat-insurance-2","category-boating-safety-2","category-boating-tips","tag-check-the-chart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2252"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2633,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252\/revisions\/2633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}