About - Charts & Books


Charts:

One thing that you quickly notice when traveling up here is the sheer number of charts that are necessary.  In the early years of our trips north we often struggled with reams of rolled charts that were a constant problem to organize and store. They get dug out as you go along and after a week of traveling you are inundated with rolls of not-currently-relevant charts.

I was originally reluctant to fold the charts, but reality intervened and all 250-odd of them that cover the coast from Seattle to Skagway have ended up folded into quarters and stored in three large art portfolios. At $20 bucks each they are a considerable but necessary investment.

The solution to the problem came a number of years ago when we obtained all of the coast charts on computer CD disk.  Now, the laptop computer is an integral part of our navigation equipment and the majority of the paper charts are generally used only for expeditions in the skiff. Having said that, I would still make the investment in the paper charts as backup to the computer and for carrying in the skiff.

 

 

References:

Coast Pilot: Southern Section: Covering the area south of Cape Caution. A must-have reference book.

Coast Pilot: Northern Section: Covering the area north of Cape Caution. A must-have reference book.

Northwest Boat Travel: Published annually. A good current reference to anchorages and marine facilities on the North Coast.

Reeds Almanac: Published annually. Tides and currents for all of the North America. Costs over $50 bucks but replaces 3 of those silly Canadian tide books plus the Alaska Tides and contains a wealth of other information.

 

Books:

 

 

 

 





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