July 25, 2006 08:23
I have the Softcharts for San Diego to Mexico, but those and the Maptech BSB's would have to be based on the old US charts. While I haven't been to Mexico with my boat yet I've been advised that generally the guides (such as Charlie's Charts) are better for close in navigation advice.
I watched a sailboat get beaten literally to death on the rocks trying to enter La Paz late last November. It had got on the wrong (ocean) side of the channel and ran aground, lost it's keel, was pounded by heavy waves coming across the 'bar', and washed across the canal onto the beach. The two crew got out but one was severely hypothermic. The deep part of the "La Paz canal" is 0.1nm wide and about 5 nm long, with a long shallow bar bordering most of the ocean side. While the canal is bouyed, the existing charts are not detailed enough to easily keep you out of trouble there. I definitely wouldn't trust my GPS and a BSB/Soft Chart. Charlies is much more informative. That's one place I'd definitely get an ENC if available, assuming they're produced on new data and not just transcribed from the old vector charts.
Scot
I watched a sailboat get beaten literally to death on the rocks trying to enter La Paz late last November. It had got on the wrong (ocean) side of the channel and ran aground, lost it's keel, was pounded by heavy waves coming across the 'bar', and washed across the canal onto the beach. The two crew got out but one was severely hypothermic. The deep part of the "La Paz canal" is 0.1nm wide and about 5 nm long, with a long shallow bar bordering most of the ocean side. While the canal is bouyed, the existing charts are not detailed enough to easily keep you out of trouble there. I definitely wouldn't trust my GPS and a BSB/Soft Chart. Charlies is much more informative. That's one place I'd definitely get an ENC if available, assuming they're produced on new data and not just transcribed from the old vector charts.
Scot