Safety & Seamanship

White hand flares have been used for signaling since the time of Nelson and Trafalgar. They were used in Civil War times, most famously aboard the ironclad Union ship USS Monitor as it was sinking in a gale off Cape Hatteras. Currently, hand flares are used by unruly fans as riot inciters in European football and basketball. Classified as hazardous materials, the active ingredients of white hand flares are black powder and magnesium. White hand flares emit NOx, a toxic byproduct. For obvious reasons, instructions are to hold the hand flare downwind. Burning magnesium on flesh, smoke inhalation, or having molten residue blowing down a companionway hatch can lead to dire consequences. In April 2006, a sailing instructor was severely injured while giving a demonstration of a white hand flare. This resulted in a total recall of white hand flares by their manufacturer, Pains Wessex.

In the age of GPS and digital charting, skilled navigators know that visual bearing-taking and careful chartplotting remain a valuable part of any navigation plan. And handy, compact magnetic compasses with built-in sighting mechanisms allow users to accurately fix their position on nautical charts. Practical Sailor testers found, after reviewing 10 handheld compasses, that one size does not fit all, and the nuance in how these units are held, handled, and used is the most important factor in choosing which unit is right for you. PS compared accuracy, price, warranty, and weight, and found the KVH DataScope monocular superior to the other units-but also more expensive. The hockey-puck models by Vion and Weems & Plath scored high marks, as did the vertical-grip compass by Plastimo, the Plastimo Iris 100. Other compasses tested include the Plastimo Iris 50, Ritchie Navigation Sportabout, Vion Axium 2, Brunton Nexus Universal, and the Davis vertical-handle compass.

NavPak is a no-nonsense product that does not place much computational demand on a computer. While it is awkward to use and lags behind other programs in some areas—particularly in user interface for the first-time digital navigator—NavPak has some features that a full-time navigator can better appreciate. Along with basic functions like route planning and chartplotting, testers particularly liked the vector overlays for drawing, plotting, and adding text. Also, it works with numerous chart formats.

Practical Sailor looks at how skippers navigate today, using GPS (global positioning systems), chartplotters, digital chart, and radar, and how these tools have revolutionized marine navigation. This revolution has resulted in convenience, but has it allowed us to dismiss the basic skills every mariner should have? GPS was intended to be used as an aid to navigation, not as a sole source. Sadly, many recreational, bluewater, and commercial boaters traverse the open ocean without a manual backup to go to in the event the GPS satellite feed is lost or the batteries die on an important piece of electronic navigation equipment. This special report considers the pros and cons of interfacing electronic equipment and the dangers of the hybrid navigation/entertainment networks. We examine navigation gear priorities for a variety of boaters. Who can get by with only paper charts? Who should carry a chartplotter? A GPS, sextant, radar, Sat-comm, Loran? And who should have it all?

This Walker Bay RIB is a well-executed, but heavy, plastic inflatable dinghy. Its thermo-molded hull resists impact, wont chip like gelcoat, and is easy to clean, but it is not as simple to paint or modifiy as a laminated hull. Although the hull material itself is not particularly rigid, the design is surprisingly resistant to flex. The features in the deluxe boat are nice for a shore-based utility boat, but the lighter version, which we plan to include in our future test, may be better suited for a deck- or davit-stowed tender.

Three common adhesive, light-reflective materials were examined: 3M Scotchlite SOLAS-A reflective tape, ACRs Res-Q reflective patches, and 3Ms Scotch-brand reflective adhesive tape. Kitchen aluminum foil was also tested. But being a good reflector of light does not necessarily mean that a material is a good reflector of radar. What makes a good reflector of radar? First, the object must be made of something that is a good conductor of electricity, aluminum for example. Second, the object should be flat. Curved surfaces such as spheres do not reflect radar nearly as well as fl at plates. Third, the surface must be smooth. Surface ripples as small as 1 millimeter can reduce radar reflectivity by as much as 50 percent. And, the dimensions of the object must be at least as long as the radar wavelength. (The wavelength of X-band marine radar is about 1 inches.) It is likely that any light-reflective tape that is relatively stiff, looks metallic, and has no visibly noticeable pattern would be a good choice, but that cannot be guaranteed.

Practical Sailor testers surveyed the range of navigation software offerings under $90. Note that none of these programs can use free NOAA vector charts. However, several can use the downloaded NOAA raster charts. The four we tested were Mariner 3.0 www.navgator.com , OziExplorer (http://www.oziexplorer.com/), SeaClear II (http://www.sping.com/seaclear/), and Software-On-Board SOBvMAX; (www.digiboat.com.au). Although some of these programs are feature rich, they wont satisfy a yearning for 3D viewing, radar overlays, or photo support, which are available only in the more expensive software.

Last summer, my son and I made the mistake of taking our 14-foot ODay Javelin for a spin on Sarasota Bay, Fla., near Practical Sailors editorial office. A stench filled the air, and the bay was littered with the floating carcasses of dead fish-rotting cowfish, triggerfish, snappers, and some very big redfish. We had seen the future . . . and it was horrifying

Admiral Version 9.1 improves upon VNS, adds support for a marine navigation network with failover and redundancy, and handles multiple monitors better. Overall, however, Admiral 9.1s new features arent impressive compared to other navigation software programs available. Practical Sailor spent several weeks evaluating the new Admiral, comparing it to Admiral V8, as well our favorites from our last navigation software test. In Practical Sailors view, Admiral 9.1 was released before it was ready. The product had stability problems that Admiral Version 8 did not have, documentation was incomplete, and it was awkward to use.

In an effort to keep our readers informed of happenings in the marine electronics field, Practical Sailor is constantly on the lookout for new products and those that are a good value, even though they may have been on the market for several years. This update to our list of tested plotter/ sounder combo units does just that. Editors test drove the Garmin 498C and Raymarine A65, comparing them to the top performers among small-screen plotter/sounders and large-screen plotter/sounders. The Garmin plotter/sounder faced off with the Lowrance LMS-337C DF, and the Raymarine plotter/sounder combo was compared to the Navman Trackfish 6600. Testers considered each chartplotters user-interface and viewability, as well as their depth sounder features, including ability to show bottom detail, ease of use, and array of features.