Paper vs eNav electronic charts

There’s an accelerating shift away from paper charts, but how best to use predicted data from digital aids in real-world situations? Practical Boat Owner’s Craig Burton, head of training operations at the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), shares his advice.

Globally, digital navigation is the primary means of navigation for skippers and navigators. This shift from paper charts has exposed limitations in official electronic navigation charts (ENCs) for leisure use because, while private providers have helped fill gaps, key issues remain around display systems, backup arrangements, training, and cost.

Paper charts remain the only viable official source of chart data, as there is not yet an approved electronic system suitable for most leisure craft. Yet, in two recent RYA surveys, the vast majority of 4,000 respondents per survey stated that they used digital navigational equipment as their primary passage-making navigational tools.

Digital aids can take the hard work out of passage planning and monitoring, and enhance accuracy but it’s important to be confident that the primary sources of raw data is accurate. This is equally true of our horizontal position. Now we can accurately plot our position using satellites, the reliability of the electronic charts we are using becomes crucial. – Full report