Sail - July 2018

SAIL MAGAZINE

the binnacle provides a stable platform for

the iPad, turning it in efect, into your “fancy

screen command center” right there at the

helm when you need it.

Down below, we have a second-generation

iPad Pro with a 12.9in screen velcroed to the

bulkhead at the nav station, running the same,

but independent, sotware and constantly con-

nected to power. It also remains sealed from

the elements in a LifeProof Nuud case. Should

the navigator turn the portable iPad into a

frisbee, we have a backup that can quickly be

moved into the cockpit.

We don’t trust the iPad’s internal GPS, so

we connect both tablets through our Vesper

XB 8000 “blackbox” AIS transceiver, which,

with its own dedicated, externally mounted

GPS antenna, sends both GPS and AIS data

over wifi to the iPad. Incidentally, we keep

small-scale passage charts for offshore and

large-scale harbor charts for the places we

plan on visiting. We’ve got worldwide vector

charts in the SeaPilot app.

For the nav sotware, we use SeaPilot, a rela-

tive newcomer to the market, and so far my

favorite. SeaPilot is the recreational adaptation

of professional pilot (the oceangoing variety)

sotware, and I ind the display easy to read and

the vector charts the fastest I’ve tried in scroll-

ing and zooming.

he iPad is more than just a chartplotter,

obviously. While we don’t clutter the device

with social media apps and the like, we do

use it for all sorts of useful things ofshore.

In iBooks, I have PDF copies of almost all

the manuals for Isbjorn’s equipment, as well

as pilot books and sailing directions, most of

which are government publications and free to

download. We keep digital copies of our crew’s

medical history and passport forms, as well as

all our onboard checklists.

We use my favorite GRIB reader, Weather

4D 2.0, for downloading and analyzing

GRIBs via sat phone offshore. To get GRIBs

and email offshore, I use xGate’s iPad app

over the Iridium 9555 handset, connected

to a small “Optimizer” router. I have Apple’s

“Magic Keyboard,” which via Bluetooth al-

lows me to type emails and blogs offshore

right onto the nav-station mounted iPad, so I

can leave my much more valuable (and non-

waterproofed) laptop stowed away in its dry

bag while we’re at sea. We have a YB Tracker

onboard Isbjorn that sends our position every

4 hours to our website, but also acts as a mes-

saging device using the Iridium constellation.

The YB Connect app is also on the iPad,

allowing me to change the tracking settings

and send and receive text messages.

Finally, the icing on the cake for me is that

when the season is over, or in between trips,

I can bring both iPads home (or to a cofee

shop ashore) and properly update the sotware

and download new charts, without needing an

Internet connection on the boat. s

Andy Schell and Mia Karlsson use their S&S 48,

Isbjörn, for ocean sail training; you can contact

them at 59-north.com

BE PREPARED

A short word to the wise—more and

more, most “iDevices” expect to be con-

nected to the Internet all the time. Make

sure you download the necessary charts

and find software that supports oline

use—which all the apps mentioned in

this article do.

The author did not want stacks of

electronics cluttering up the helm

station and interfering with the view