A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO Chartplotters

Whether you're new to boating or looking to enhance your navigation with a phone, tablet or MFD, Ali Wood runs through the options

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Electronic charts have been a game changer in navigation this past decade, so much so that the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) announced its withdrawal of Admiralty paper charts to focus on digital products.

After concerns were raised by the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN), this has been delayed until at least 2030.

"It has now become clear that more time is needed to address the needs of those specific users who do not yet have viable alternatives to paper chart products," said the UKHO.

Imray also announced it was phasing out its paper charts at the end of the season, although this has now been withdrawn following its collaboration with the Austrian cartographic specialist freytag & berndt (FB) to "ensure the continued availability and development" of Imray's paper charts and books.

The RIN is currently drafting specifications for electronic charts so leisure boaters can be sure they meet the required standards.

Nonetheless, Paul Bryans, chair of the small craft group, believes paper charts will remain an essential navigational aid for years to come. "They will always be a backup independent of external digital information sources and electric power," he said.

While total reliance on electronics-be that a chartplotter or tablet-is ill-advised, digital charts that you can zoom in and out of on a small screen are already, for many recreational boaters, the main mode of getting from A to B. New yachts are designed with smaller chart tables, some losing them altogether, and as Peter Chennel says in the book RYA Passage Planning: "Regulatory authorities are coming to conclude that electronic navigation has a place in modern day boating, and we have to accept that electronic charting is now an integral part of recreational boating."