NEWS AND NOTES
Blue Water Sailing
April 9, 2009
NOAA Nautical Chart Survey: Serious Boaters May Not Be Sailing Safe
Results of a December 2008 survey of hundreds of recreational mariners has revealed surprisingly low levels of awareness of, and usage of, readily available NOAA paper chart update information that is critical to safe sailing. NOAA nautical charts are widely used by recreational mariners either as a primary navigational aid, or as a complement or back-up to electronic systems. To sail safe, paper nautical charts must be kept up to date and it's the mariner's responsibility to do so.
The survey, conducted by the [link|United States Power Squadrons USPS in cooperation with NOAA print-on-demand chart manufacturer OceanGrafix, reveals that although 78% of the 238 respondents say they use NOAA paper charts in some capacity, they do not generally keep those charts updated by means of the two most common federally-provided methods: the Local Notice to Mariners (LNMs), and new NOAA chart Editions. The vast majority of mariners in the survey are aware of LNMs, but most mariners (54.9%) do not update their charts using the LNMs. Regarding Editions, both awareness of and usage of Editions is very low: 46.7% were not
aware or only somewhat aware of Editions, with an additional 41.0% "I am aware but I do not normally get new Editions when issued."
Various recreational sailing, safety and charting organizations - from USPS and sailing clubs to manufacturers of chart kits and cruising guides - as well as NOAA itself, stress the importance of keeping paper charts up to date for optimum safety at sea. Commercial mariners are required by law to keep fully-corrected-and-updated NOAA paper charts on hand at all times. St. Paul, Minnesota-based OceanGrafix is the first company to offer print-on-demand nautical charts for recreational and commercial boaters. Working in partnership with NOAA the company ensures the most accurate information available is reflected on its charts.
For information on how NOAA and its partners and other federal agencies update NOAA charts, go to: www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/learn_chartupdate.htm.
For comments from NOAA regarding "a NOAA chart is of vital importance to the navigator..." go to: www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/paperchart.html.
For information on NOAA's POD (print on demand) partner, go to: www.oceangrafix.com
