GPS: The Global Positioning System is a world-wide radio-navigation system formed by a constellation of 24 satellites and a network of ground stations. GPS units use this system to pinpoint a location with an accuracy of a couple feet. This is an excellent tool for boating navigation. Visit Trimble for more information on How GPS Works.
Maptech Large Chart Kit for Chesapeake and Delaware Bays
These chart kits are full-color reproductions of U.S. Government and private charts spiral bound into easy to use compilations. Features include GPS datums, Latitude/Longitude, Loran grids, distances in nautical miles, and aerial photos of harbors and anchorages in popular destinations. The 22 x 17 inch books are large enough to allow for manual platting, yet small enough to sit on your nav-station or lap.
Waypoints: There are several websites available that list Chesapeake Bay Loran and GPS waypoints for fishing and boating use. We've gathered links to these sites and have provided them below.
Virginia Lower Chesapeake Bay Loran Waypoints: This listing includes notes on the types of fish commonly caught at each location. Includes wreck and reef locations. Most sites are in the Cape Charles, Virginia area.
How to Read a Nautical Chart: A Complete Guide to the Symbols, Abbreviations, and Data Displayed on Nautical Charts. By Nigel Calder. In 2000, the U.S. government ceased publication of Chart No. 1 , the invaluable little book that generations of mariners have consulted to make sense of the complex system of signs, symbols, and graphic elements used in nautical charts. Now Chart No. 1 is not just reborn but expanded and improved in How to Read a Nautical Chart. Arranged and edited by Nigel Calder, one of today's most respected boating authors, and containing four-color illustrations throughout, How to Read a Nautical Chart presents a number of original features that help readers make optimum use of the data found in Chart No. 1 , including a more intuitive format, crucial background information, international chart symbol equivalents, electronic chart symbology, and thorough explanations of the practical aspects of nautical chart reading. Click here for more information. Buy from Amazon.com.
Aids to Navigation: Aids to navigation include structures such as lights, radio beacon, buoys, and channel markers that provide mariners with navigational information. The United States Coast Guard publishes a "light list" which includes information on all aids to navigation. The light list includes for each aid to navigation: the light list number, name, bearing, geographic position, light or morse code characteristics, height, range, structural characteristics, and general comments. The light list index and database are available online here.
"Red Right Returning." Red and green channel markers provide boaters with directions to get in and out of harbors. Green markers should be kept to your right as you leave the harbor, red markers should be on your right as you return to harbor.
