Many of us who have dedicated chart plotters on our boats or multifunction displays (MFDs), also have charting and routing apps on out phones and tablets that we can take home with us and use ashore. These also can be linked to the MFDs to facilitate software and chart updates.
But, is the chart plotter something of a dinosaur? Big, fixed in place, reliant on complicated NMEA 200 interfaces and black boxes. Three young marine electronics experts from Spain, Norway and Germay wondered outloud together whether it was time to build marine navigation system based on a tablet interface that could also work on a smart phone. Their vision was to build a rugged, marine-environment-worthy new solution.
There are other tablet-based marine electrics systems out there and you can buy and download apps from companies like Navionics that work pretty well, yet may not interfaces with AIS, sailing instruments, radar and the autopilot. The three young engineers set out to build a system that would do all of that seamless. They called it Orca.
To get an inside look at what Orca is all about we turned to Lars Reisberg, a German marine marketing professional and avid sailor who publishes the free, non-commercial blog No Frills Sailing in English. He bought the complete Orca package for his new Omega 42 sloop and tells the tale of his Orca decision from opening the boxes to installation. Lars is an honest witness so his views are impartial.
