Bathymetric Charts Now Available from OceanGrafix

Bathymetric charts, which are primarily used by commercial and sportfishers, have been added to the OceanGrafix line of charts products for mariners.

While the OceanGrafix product line is primarily made up of NOAA nautical charts, there has been more demand for bathymetric charts.  A “bathy” chart is the submerged equivalent of an above-water topographic map.  These charts are designed to present accurate, measurable description and visual presentation of the submerged terrain.

By looking at the submerged terrain, sportfishers can better locate areas where fish are likely to habitat and feed; fish love cover and a varied terrain for safety from predators and for food.

A bathymetric chart differs from a hydrographic chart (such as a NOAA navigational chart) in that accurate presentation of the underwater features is the goal of the bathy chart, while safe navigation is the goal of the hydrographic chart. Bathymetric charts are not to be used for navigation.

A boost for Nautical chart updates

$40M in Recovery Act Projects to Support Efficient Marine Navigation and Create Jobs

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced in Norfolk, Va. today $40 million for critical hydrographic survey and chart projects across the United States that strengthen the economy, create jobs, and support safe and efficient marine commerce and trade. Funded by theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will allocate $32 million to utilize hydrographic surveying contractors to collect data in critical coastal areas which are used to map the seafloor and update nautical charts. 


“These Recovery Act contracts are an important investment in our nation’s marine transportation system, which employs more than 13 million people. Our waterways are facing unprecedented demands from marine commerce, but our seafloor mapping is outdated,” Secretary Locke said. “Charting our coastal seafloors for the most up-to-date information gives ports and shippers important data to increase efficiency and safety, boosting our nation’s long-term economic health.”


Across our country, ocean transportation already contributes more than $742 billion to the national economy. All commercial shipping vessels rely on NOAA’s nautical charts to safely pass through U.S. waters. Those charts are generated and updated with data gathered by hydrographic surveys.
Recovery Act funding will be used to conduct 39 surveys, charting nearly 2,000 square nautical miles in the Chesapeake Bay, and in the coastal waters of Alaska, Washington, California, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Virginia. Using the latest technologies, surveyors map the sea floor, measure the water depth, search the ocean for storm debris or accident wreckage, and record the natural features of coastal seabeds and fragile aquatic life. 



Between 2010 and 2020, the value of freight carried in and out of U.S. ports is predicted to increase 43 percent. To accommodate this growth, facility planners need hydrographic survey data to facilitate this century’s bigger ships and busier waterways. The information gathered through these surveys will also support essential planning efforts along coastlines providing important data to help balance the conservation needs of fragile ecosystems and competing demands for coastal ocean space for navigation, alternative energy, or other commercial purposes.
NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey is managing the projects. Surveying will cover high priority maritime areas on the U.S. Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coastlines. Surveying firms conducting the work are based in Alaska, California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington. 


The Recovery Act will fund private hydrographic survey firms to complete the following projects:

• Alaska – $5.3 million. Seven surveys cover 674 square nautical miles. These surveys encompass Unimak Pass and shipping safe transit lanes. This critical area experiences high levels of commercial shipping between the Pacific Northwest and Japan, with about 3,000 ships transiting annually. Surveys here will support safe navigation, protecting sensitive ecological resources and coastal tourism from the devastating effects of maritime accidents.

• Washington – $1.3 million. Four surveys cover 34 square nautical miles. The surveys in Puget Sound encompass an area west of Tacoma and Commencement Bay. This project supports the efforts of the West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health and the Puget Sound Partnership. Data gathered during the survey will support safe marine transportation and characterize marine habitats. Coastal managers can also use the information to select appropriate sites for renewable energy projects and to monitor the effects of climate change.

• California – $3 million. Four surveys cover 112 square nautical miles. These surveys in the approaches to the San Francisco Bay area contribute to the California Seafloor Mapping Project, a multi-year partnership to develop the first comprehensive and seamless maps of California’s seafloor and marine resources. The data acquired in this project will enhance efforts to manage marine ecosystems and coastal resources, to identify obstructions to navigation, and to better understand the California coast’s unique natural hazards.

• Louisiana – $7 million. Seven surveys cover 441 square nautical miles. The surveys are located offshore of Terrebonne Bay, La. The area contains a high concentration of oil and gas production platforms and their associated pipelines. Supply vessels supporting oil and gas production, as well as the fishing fleet who navigate these waters rely on this information.

• Florida/Alabama – $3.4 million. Three surveys cover 104 square nautical miles. These surveys encompass the safe transit lanes, anchorages and approaches to Pensacola. U.S. Navy ships, coastal shipping vessels and fishing vessels navigate these waters regularly and their safe transit relies on this information.

• Georgia/Florida – $3 million. Five surveys cover 148 square nautical miles. The Brunswick, Ga. port is expanding after recent dredging operations requiring updated survey data for shippers and naval submarines transiting the area. Updated charts will also help to minimize the chance of ships striking endangered Right Whales and will benefit commercial and recreational fishermen who monitor bottom terrain.

• Virginia – $4.3 million. Five surveys cover 125 square nautical miles in the busy southern Chesapeake Bay. An increase in marine commerce, including the transport of liquefied natural gas, as well as significant recreational boating makes this a critical area for charting.

• Virginia – $4.1 million. Four surveys cover 219 square nautical miles in the Atlantic Ocean, most of which have not been surveyed since 1939 when lead line measurements were used. Heavy coastal shipping traffic in the area will benefit from updated charts.

An additional $8.24 million in Recovery Act funds have been allocated for data collection activities that support the development of nautical charts and coastal planning. More information on funded projects nationwide is available on the NOAA Recovery Act Web site. The public can follow the progress of each project on the recovery site, which will include an interactive online map that enables the public to track where and how NOAA recovery funds are spent. 

NOAA’s mission is to understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.

STAY CURRENT AUTOMATICALLY

If you aren't a member already, join OG Club for update notices on your paper charts.  Not only do frequent Notices To Mariners (NTM's) change the relevancy of your charts, but new editions offer the latest in safe navigating.  Join OG club, enter the chart numbers you use, and receive notification of updates.

Click here to join OG Club.

"It's not the sea that kills you, it's the hard bits at the edges"

Sailing through storms can be the exciting part of cruising life, but there are a number of rules to remember. Always be aware of the weather (hourly!) and don't sacrifice safety for punctuality.  It's easier to reef before bad weather and before nightfall and once in the throws of a storm, head for deeper water, not the shore.  

For more information on safe sailing click here.

It's the Pencil, Stupid!

Wow, a pencil as a "safety tool"? Yes, indeed. In a recent blog article in OceanNavigator Online, Ken McKinley points to a paper-and-pencil combination as an ingredient of safer sailing. Not just the physical, either; he states that as you enter information by hand, you have a keener mental awareness, and better recollection, than if you're simply reading something -- whether it be an electronic screen or another medium.

Link to the full article here -- we guarantee it to be insightful! And go here for more information on good old fashioned (but 100% up to date when printed on demand) NOAA nautical charts.

"New Season? Get a New Chart" by Capt. Daniello

Don't Start the Season With Out-of-Date Charts

By Capt. Vincent Daniello

Here's the beginning of an interesting article that ran recently in Motorboating Magazine...

Paper charts tend to show their age. After a ChartKit, a rolled-up chart or any chart book has been kicking around a boat for a while it takes on a telltale, dog-eared appearance that proclaims, "I may not be all I once was." This is accurate — in more ways than one. The chart itself is not what it once was, nor is what it depicts. Savvy boat owners, especially at the start of a new season, make sure their charts are up-to-date, which usually means springing for a new copy — the latest version. These boaters' charts depict only a moment in time, and waterways constantly change.

You can link to the full article here, and link to more information (a good FAQs page) on "up-to-date NOAA charts" here.

USPS Survey: Low Awareness, Usage, of Chart Updates

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 to complement or back up 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 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 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. With 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 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.

“Safety at sea is our mission,” says Richard Sillcox, Chief of NOAA’s Chart Update Service. “We continually stress the importance of sailing with updated charts and we provide update data daily. I was surprised at the findings.”

LNMs are issued weekly by the U.S. Coast Guard and provide dozens of updates per week for NOAA charts including sunken vessels, buoy changes, obstructions, changes in channel markers, navigation aids that are missing and more. Such changes should be annotated as “changes” on a mariner’s nautical chart(s) to ensure safe sailing.

Editions are issued by NOAA as deemed necessary, and are all-new NOAA charts which include all of the LNMs since that chart’s last Edition, plus other changes.

Dave DeGree, president of OceanGrafix, stated, “A low level of chart update activity combined with a pretty wide usage of paper charts could mean that the majority of U.S. recreational mariners who use NOAA paper charts are using ones that are not up to date. We will make it a goal for 2009 to increase awareness of sailing with an updated chart.”

A complete summary of the findings plus methodology and background information can be found at http://www.oceangrafix.com/o.g/USPS-Survey.html

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.

Lots More Resources!

The RESOURCES page on the OceanGrafix website keeps expanding, with even more links to truly helpful (non promotional) websites that provide valuable information for recreational mariners.

Recent additions to the resources page have included:

CHART UPDATES
DINGHY CHOICES
FOR WOMEN
FOUL WEATHER GEAR
GREEN BOATING
SAFETY
USED BOAT VALUES

Visit the page here

2-sided NOAA chart?

The buzz is that OceanGrafix is considering a new product: a smaller NOAA chart, printed on two sides, yet containing all of the data (and in the same data size / format) as the traditional, full-size NOAA paper charts.

Mariners have expressed that while NOAA paper charts are great, both as a navigational aid and as backup to electronic systems, they are indeed large!

The new product would give mariners a more manageable format.

OceanGrafix says that an online survey may be available soon for you to vote on the new product's viability. We'll let you know here...

USPS Survey Results Available Soon

A comprehensive survey was conducted by the United States Power Squadrons (USPS) in December, 2008, in cooperation with OceanGrafix, with a goal of determining recreational mariners' awareness of -- and use of -- NOAA nautical chart updates. Visit back in a few days to see the results; they are in fact surprising.

Despite the fact that a majority of mariners do use NOAA full-size paper charts in some form (alone or as backup to electronic systems), the awareness of and use of available, critical, chart update data (which provides for safer sailing) is low.

The survey included 238 responses. More in just a few days!

OG Club Membership Growing

Membership in OG Club, sposored by OceanGrafix and dedicated to advising recreational mariners about official NOAA updates to their nautical charts, is growing rapidly. Membership is free. Members simply let OceanGrafix know what NOAA charts they use; they then get an e-mail every time that chart is fully updated by NOAA. That new chart is called an Edition.

You can learn more about OG Club from OceanGrafix here.

14x20 size / smaller charts for framing

Q. I am looking for chart #12375 in a size approximately 14x20. I have seen them in stores already mounted on a board. I'd like to frame the chart.

A.
Since OceanGrafix charts are intended for navigational purposes, and bound by strict regulations from NOAA, they are sold in either 36” or 42” widths, and varying lengths. We are able to print the most up-to-date charts, but unfortunately can't accommodate a special size with mounting.
You may browse our charts at www.oceangrafix.com to see what our charts look like, they can be printed and shipped within one business day, and have often been used for decorative purposes.