I'm a relative newbie to sailing as such, but my hunch (and it
IS only that at this point) is that the freebie interactive cruising guidebook
Active Captain (see:
https://activecaptain.com/) will be a "must have", if only for the local information about anchorages, docking, best approaches to tricky coves, reviews of marinas, fueling docks and so forth. They are always integrating new features and ancillary programs like "eBoatCards" and now an
Angie's List style of "Marine Services Reviews". You can also log into it on the web using a Windows laptop or whatever. Hard to believe it's free.
Another freebie app that seems to work well enough is
SailDroid (see:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... roid&hl=en), which is a super-simple app that has a magnetic compass, tracks speed, position, log, distance traveled and has day and night display modes. No telling how well
all of its features may work out in the middle of the signal-poor Chesapeake (I have T-Mobile and/or an occasional Xfinity Wifi signal, so I'm not overly optimistic, but it looks like it might be very handy all the same, even out of range of signal).
I stumbled upon a maps viewer used as a supplement to the
Williams & Heintz Virginia Cruising Guide book called
PDFMaps (see:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... enza&hl=en) that offers lots of free or for purchase nautical and other maps. This app might be better suited to a larger device than most phones, like, say, a
cheapo sub-$100 tablet. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to offer a corresponding Windows version for a laptop, but one can still copy and view those PDF maps just using a laptop's
Adobe Acrobat viewer, if needed. I expect that there are other, perhaps far better, chart and navigation suites out there. For example, I have heard good things about
Navionics (see:
http://www.navionics.com/en/news/free-d ... s-features), though I have yet to use or even download it.
Frankly though, whatever electronic goodies you may have on board, I believe anyone would do well to at least print out a free full color set of
NOAA Booklet Charts for whatever areas one might conceivably travel through, and then stow these in a big ziploc somewhere "dryish" on board. After all, some day your batteries
WILL run out, and probably just when you need that next buoy number and heading most. The most up-to-date charts are always available at
http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/, and won't cost you a nickel. Use a reasonably waterproof color laser printer and NOT your bleedy old home inkjet, OK? One fairly humid day and all your inkjet chart prints will look like a handful of those old Rorschach inkblot tests (Correct Answer: "It looks like two clowns with hair lips playing pinochle with a yodeling clam"). So take that print job to Kinkos if you have to.
Best of luck! I'll be watching this space for tips too!
Regards,
Bilgey
