ActiveCaptain.com, the crowd-sourced database of local navigation and cruising knowledge, has been expanding its offerings over the last couple of months with some significant new capabilities. The two most important, in my view, involve route-sharing and an allied site devoted to captain reviews of boating-related services. Here’s a quick rundown on some of the new developments. [...]
Nobeltec said today it has released a free service pack update for users of the new (January 2011) version of Admiral and VNS. The service pack offers integration with Furuno’s popular Digital Fish Finder (DFF1) Sounder, as well as a number of NMEA 2000 integration improvements. While I don’t often simply reprint a press release, [...]
I know that’s a bold statement, but when I can have access to a library that will eventually likely hold many thousands of already planned (by me AND other boaters) routes, and then someday soon use those routes with more ActiveCaptain technology to tell me what’s up ahead, I will be in a different place [...]
I have seen the future of Nobeltec, and it has no. . . okay, okay, I couldn’t resist. But c’mon, let’s admit, that dongle was the only real thing we hated about Nobeltec navigation software. And yes, I know all the reasons they had for using it, but it really got in the way. And [...]
Jeppesen, a Boeing company, said today it has launched a revamped website for its light marine business. The new look is clean and uncluttered and looks like it will be much easier to navigate. I’m a big fan of “white space” on websites. It allows your eye to quickly capture the most important information, and [...]
Apple has just approved the latest update of the Navimatics Charts & Tides app so that iPhone and iPad users can update ActiveCaptain data from their devices. The update allows markets to be edited and reviews and comments to be added. The single license works on both an iPHone and IPad at the same time, [...]
by Christine Kling (Editor’s Note — Chris Kling is a sailor with with more than 30 years of experience on the oceans of the world. She’s also an English professor at Broward College, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and the published author of the Seychelle Sullivan series of mysteries, including SURFACE TENSION (2002), CROSS [...]
Yeah, now you can use your Fugawi X-Traverse account to bring it all onboard your cool new iPad. Okay! Okay! I’ll buy an iPad already. . .
Jeppesen said today that selected C-MAP by Jeppesen MapMedia charts are available for the Furuno NavNet 3D chartplotters. The charts come pre-installed on U.S.-based, newly purchased NavNet 3D units and the company said older NavNet 3D plotters can be updated with a free software update to be compatible with the new charts. Jeppesen said boaters [...]
It’s 2 p.m. on Friday and I’m stowing my camera gear carefully in the salon of this big yacht when I hear a sudden muted rumble from below decks. Our captain, Kadey-Krogen Project Manager Gregg Gandy, has started the John Deere diesels. We’re ready to depart our Jensen Beach, Florida, marina and head north to [...]
Fugawi recently announced the release of Navionics NavPlanner2, powered by Fugawi. The company also said it has released version 4.5.5 of its Fugawi Marine ENC. NavPlanner2 is an atlas of U.S. coastal waters, navigable waterways, and more than 12,000 inland lakes for use on a home computer for map viewing, searching, printing, waypoint planning and [...]
“All stop! Rudder amidships!” The command from the pilot to the helmsman was loud, almost harsh, betraying the pilot’s anxiety. The M/V Marina Star, a 400-foot freighter, was in the narrowest part of the New York Harbor ship channel, heading south toward the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. But a 40-foot sailboat [...]
