Sunrise on the Water

April 15, 2012     I wish you could taste the coffee and smell the eggs and sausage coming from the galley while watching this sunrise with me. The start of another day moving The Don north from Fort Myers Beach towards Tartons Landing. jDl

Charts and Navigation

5 November 2010 

LATEST UPDATE: Development work continues. On a recent trip from Ft. Meyers Beach to Goodland FL we tested the the latest system. There from the flying bridge we had a NOAA chart on the laptop with our boat tracking us turn for turn. Also available was speed, average speed, ETA, and a directional arrow to the next weigh point. Everything worked. Will continue with the series after getting ready for the snow.

UPDATE - System development continues. We now have every chart from Ft. Meyers Beach FL to Tartan's Landing on the system along with every waypoint between. Real-time navigation is tested as well as downloads of waypoints to a backup GPS. Every mile has been surveyed via Google Earth with the routes converted to kml files. Total cost to date: $0.00.

The LSPS web staff is working on an article about using software and NOAA free charts for planning and a complete on-water navigation system. One is absolutely free. Working models of several are ready for field testing on an up coming  trip from the Cape Fear River to the West coast of Florida.

Requiring only a laptop computer, an inexpensive GPS, and access to the Internet during development, any boater can duplicate systems formally available only on million dollar yachts.

Two chapters now available