Captain's Log

One of the pleasant aspects of working for a sailing magazine is the amount of time we get to spend sailing while calling it work. This fall, our associate editor Erin Myers took off from the office for a couple of weeks to sail south to the Caribbean from Hampton, Va., with the West Marine Caribbean 1500 fleet. (Well, someone had to do it, and I was "busy.") She sailed aboard the new Hallberg-Rassy 62 Between the Sheets and managed to finish first in class.

But the passage south to the islands wasn't all play. During and after the rally Erin conducted an extensive survey of the boats and crews that sailed in this year's event-51 in total. Her report on the rally and the survey results are on page 48. And the in-depth review of the HR 62, tested over 1,500 sea miles, is on page 62.

One of the pieces of information that sprang out of the survey was how skippers chose to navigate their ways across the ocean. It was no surprise that all of the boats carried GPS and that all carried either a computer loaded with digital charting software (Nobeltec, MaxSea, The Capn, etc.) or a dedicated chartplotter. And, again, no surprise that all of the boats carried paper charts as well.

What did get our attention was the fact that only five of the surveyed skippers used their paper charts during the 1,500-mile passage south. All the rest relied solely upon their computers, chartplotters and digital charts to carry them to safe landfalls.

This reliance on technology speaks volumes for the reliability and accuracy of the software and digital charts. With raster and vector charts, GPS, radar, satellite photos, bathymetric data, weather data and sailing instrument data all integrated into the electronic charting software or chartplotter, the new generation of smart navigational systems offers a skipper unprecedented tools.

So why would any skipper in his or her right mind sail without such tools? Or, instead, use the old-fashioned paper charts and parallel rules to plot the course across the ocean?

There is really only one reason to keep a careful plot on a paper chart and position notes in a logbook when sailing offshore: electricity. When you have it and can generate more of it, the digital chart table is a modern marvel. But when you do not have electricity and cannot generate more of it, then all of the plastic boxes, LCD displays and intricate software is about as much use to the navigator as an inflatable beach ball globe. During this year's West Marine Caribbean 1500 a cold front passed over the fleet when it was several hundred miles at sea. With the front came squalls and boisterous winds. And thunder and lightning.

Had Between the Sheets or any of the other rally boats been hit by a stray thunderbolt they could have experienced an electrical meltdown, which could shut down the whole navigation network in a puff of smoke. Modern offshore skippers have made the choice between paper or plastic navigation systems, and plastic has won hands down. But it does make sense to keep a paper trail on paper charts and in your logbook just in case your onboard power grid bites the dust. For sure, that inflatable globe isn't going to get you anywhere near your landfall.