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Garmin Mapsource - pretty cool tool

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/06/2008 : 06:39:11

Garmin included a CD of their Mapsource product in our new Garmin GPSMap 76c x handheld unit (backup for our bimini trip.) So we have been playing around with it.

One nice feature (pretty if nothing else) is the ability to view a route on googleearth.

Here's our Bimini Route

Anyone else using this software and have cool tricks using it?

Paul

Joint Decision. (Sold)
PO C250WB 2005 Sail # 841.

Moved up to C34 Eximius

Updated August 2015

Edited by - on

Don B
Captain

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USA
317 Posts

Response Posted - 06/06/2008 : 07:09:47

Very cool Paul! I'm not familiar with chart plotters and the like and was wondering what the Bimini Transit number indicates? Some type of buoy (mark)? An eight hour mark?

Sounds like a fantastic trip and hopefully you will take us along

Edited by - on

jesse camp
1st Mate

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USA
84 Posts

Response Posted - 06/06/2008 : 08:43:55

Paul,
How far south are you going before you head ENE?
Is there not a place further south you could launch and leave your truck?

Jesse

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/06/2008 : 10:57:26

Paul,
Very cool. How did you get it onto Google Earth? Do you have a subscription, or is this now a free service?

If you have an autopilot or plan to use one in the future, be aware that at least for the ST1000, it can only decode the first four characters of any waypoint, so if they all start with "Bimini transit", all the waypoints are identical to each other as far as the AP is concerned, and it can't track along them as you'd want. I've started creating waypoints with alpha-numerics like "BI01" (Blake Island zero one), etc, so my AP can understand and use them. This may not be a limitation with other manufacturers, my only experience is with Raymarine. And I really have no experience with it yet, only read the manual, I haven't been on the water with it yet.

Please upload your actual track laid over your intended track after you get back. I think that'll be very interesting to see.

Edited by - delliottg on 06/06/2008 10:58:54

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 06/06/2008 : 11:39:46

Keep in mind that course is not usually one recommended for a straight rhumbline.

Conventional wisdom is to sail a S shaped course. Head south along the Florida coast, when in the Gulf Stream start the turn to the east, current will carry you north, and turn east near the end.

Don't get set past the island by the current.

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 06/06/2008 : 13:12:16

Paul,
I just picked up garmin's "Bluechart" for my sailing area. I've been playing with it a few days now and its the ticket. What makes it so good is the amount of info it provides, water depths, marina info, wrecks, bridge clearances etc.

When are you making the crossing?
You got passports right?

Edited by - Tom Potter on 06/06/2008 13:17:05

britinusa
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5404 Posts

Response Posted - 06/06/2008 : 18:30:34

The 'route' on the map is one I put in. The waypoints I also put into the program. We just wanted to give our buddies a few points and estimates of where we should be on the trip.

The research we have done generally shows the concept of sailing south to the west of the gulf stream, then heading east allowing the gulf to add it's northern push to our vector. The rhumbline is just our desired northen most track, we'll be endeavoring to stay south of it so that we don't get into the pickle of trying to run south against the steam and get nowhere.

We won't know we're going until we get there! My plan is to make several "We're OK" decisions and be ready to take the option to turn back at any time, even just prior to arrival! We don't want to get stuck there.

Our handheld GPS keeps the track nicely so we'll be able to show that when we get back.

Plan B is to head south to the keys for the long weekend should the seas be too heavy --- Admiral OSHA will not be happy in rough stuff.

Paul

Edited by - on

tinob
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1883 Posts

Response Posted - 06/07/2008 : 10:02:44

Paul, Hoping that your trip to the Bahamas is a million smiles and that we will reap the rewards here on the forum... VIA CON DIOS.

Val on Calista # 3936, Patchogue, N.Y.

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 06/08/2008 : 07:53:26

Paul,
Here's a pretty good [url="http://www.soundingspub.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=AA11F3E4053147B68C8B77CBE43F6C9A&tier=4&id=501ABD63FE204BDF8FA94CC5ACED78D5"]article[/url] about GPS and Navigation, I thought you would enjoy reading this.

Edited by - on

britinusa
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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 06/08/2008 : 08:45:08

Tom, great article, nice find!

Having joined the navy at a very tender 15years old (1964) we had to learn seamanship, 'ropes', navigation and optionally 'sailing' which I choose as my 'selected sport'.

Much of what I learned is now a distant memory, so I've been refreshing it. Lot's of reading and research and lots more practice, especially in the field of navigation (I taught land based map reading to junior sailors for a couple of years, but that was 25years ago). I don't subscribe to the 'I learned that years ago' as an indicator that 'I know it'. So we do lots of practice.

The Bimini trip has been a great incentive to step up the nav lessons. Whenever we are out, I'll keep the charts at hand and take sightings to establish our true position and then ask the Admiral at the helm for our lat and long. Yep, the gps is not always as accurate as we're led to believe. We've seen ourselves between channel markers and the gps is showing that we're on the rocks!

When in shallow areas, such as approaching an anchorage, I'll typically be on the bow scanning for stop signs, and if it's a new to us anchorage then you know that we'll be going pretty slow. We adopted the sign language so that we don't have to shout at each other, but we are in constant comms.

I look at the 'toys' as must haves, but work at coping if the power failed or the satellites had a software crash.

That article only reinforces the issue... learn to use the toys and what to do if the spring breaks.

Paul

Edited by - on

Bubba
Admiral

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USA
542 Posts

Response Posted - 06/09/2008 : 21:18:14

Paul, I know you were asking for cool tricks with Garmin's Mapsource but here's a costal resource I've found useful. It's a NOAA website that integrates raster charts with Google Earth images:
http://demo.geogarage.com/noaa/

Edited by - on

Bubba
Admiral

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USA
542 Posts

Response Posted - 06/09/2008 : 21:32:11

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Very cool. How did you get it onto Google Earth? Do you have a subscription, or is this now a free service?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> You can download a free version of Google Earth: http://earth.google.com/
In Mapsource, save a map with a route or track as a .gpx file (GPS exchange format), then open the file in Google Earth.

Edited by - on

sterngucker
Navigator

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USA
169 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2008 : 00:21:36

Thanks for the tip. Very kewl. Learn sumthin new everyday! Here's our track from the Newport to Ensenada Race last April.

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4275 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2008 : 20:20:07

Sterngucker,

Were you drunk? Even I can sail a straighter line than that!

Why didn't you just go straight from point A to point B?

Edited by - GaryB on 06/12/2008 20:20:36

sterngucker
Navigator

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USA
169 Posts

Response Posted - 06/13/2008 : 00:17:02

The race started around noon on Friday and we headed offshore betting that we would find the best wind there. We did and had been making a great run until the wind subsided at sunset that first evening off Oceanside. We stayed the course and tried to make the best of it but for the next four hours our boat speed barely topped two knots. Finally around 10pm the wind filled in again and we made steady progress at around three to four knots. Then at two in the morning the wind machine turned off again and we battled for the next several hours just to keep moving. We were getting weary of bobbing in the big salty pond and turned back to the east hoping to find a breeze closer to shore. Sunrise came and brought a freshening breeze with it, though progress seemed a snail's pace. The skipper's son was fighting a bout of seasickness and every couple of hours he would stick his head out and ask what that point of land was? For what seemd an eternity we would always give him the same answer "Point Loma!". Our boat speed slowly but steadily climbed until we were blasting along in the afternoon averaging seven knots between a broad reach and a run. Everyone was grinning ear to ear and at the same time trying not to break something on the boat as the winds were topping twenty knots plus! We threw the watch schedule out the window as we sure we would be tucked into a slip that saturday night in Ensenada. We were less than twenty miles away at 6pm and we could taste the fish tacos. Wrong! In less than fifteen minutes the winds went from twenty knots plus to nothing. Nada, zilch. It was unbelievable. I had never seen anything like it. We were dumbfounded. Hardly a breath. The seas were still churning from the wind that was no longer there and we were treated to a chorus of clanging hardware and slapping sails as the boat bounced around like a beach ball at a Jimmy Buffet concert. We sailed circles in the water trying to find some piece of wind to grab onto. Managing to make a slow pace further south, mostly from current, midnight found us drifting just north of Islas Todos Santos. Only ten miles from our holy grail of a finish line outside the harbor entrance to Ensenada. I volunteered for the midnight to four watch even though I hadn't gotten any sleep that entire day due to our anticipated early arrival. I kept a sharp lookout for a wisp of wind, any wisp of wind, and hoped that the current wouldn't drag us past the bay, or into the islands. I occasionally nodded off but any breeze on my cheek would snap me wide awake. Sometimes that slight breeze came off the slapping mainsail, mocking my quest for wind. It only took us seven hours to cover those last ten miles. The wind finally did pickup as we strode across the finish line at a brisk five knots, drunk from our victory (and serious lack of sleep).

The slamming shut of that door that holds back the wind had a interesting effect. With the exception of the one boat that slipped through the door before it shut (and won our class by a large margin), the rest of the class all finished within two hours of each other. After forty three hours of sailing, each of us following a different course, I was surprised to find us all together at the end. They say the Newport to Ensenada Race is won at night and I have no doubt that is true.

Of course the short answer to your question is we were either searching for wind, trying to make the best boat speed, or drifting in the current, but short answers aren't as much fun.

Edited by - sterngucker on 06/13/2008 01:18:38

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 06/13/2008 : 07:43:59

Great story Sterngucker! Got any more? The "Cruising" forum could use some.

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