Savvy Navvy - Navionics | Navigation Special

[@savvynavvy]

Thank you for putting this together Steve. We were eager to see how someone would review us in direct comparison with Navionics (to be honest, we fancied our chances). We'd be really happy to answer any specific questions from your viewers and hear their feedback after using the app - we have a 2-week free trial too, so they can dip their toe in the water with no risk. The savvy navvy Team

[@svfairisle]

And if you do want to buy it I’ve put a link in the description to where I got mine with a discount.

[@svfairisle]

I didn't go into pricing as it gets complicated depending on what version you want and as I said I got a discount through Pro Marine Store, but you can check it all out at... www.savvy-navvy.com/

[@goeasy1232]

Does S-N do weather routing?

[@savvynavvy]

@@goeasy1232 we do indeed. Simply drop two pins and you get a route factoring in wind and tide. You even see your tidal vector on screen when you zoom in.

[@trevorcard9752]

After Steve's excellent review of the brilliant features of savvy navvy I decided to take a look at it as I am planning a couple of routes in the coming weeks. Both routes raised issues, but I could not find a way to manually influence a route. Please let me know if such a facility exists. The first was Chichester Marina to Poole which was initially fine, but on closer inspection it routed me through potentially dangerous waters off the Needles. I wouldn't normally choose that route. The second was Lefkas Marina to Preveza. The auto routing didn't know about the swing bridge at Lefkas so routed all the way around Lefkada. 55 miles instead of 9! Before I use this system it needs something like a 'via' function to avoid such issues. I am familiar with both these locations but if I wasn't I'd be worried the auto routing could land me in difficulties.

[@themagicgecko1053]

As a USCG licensed Captain, former Schooner Captain, offshore racer, and sailing instructor, I truly enjoyed your review. Short and concise while highlighting the most commonly used features of both apps. I too grew up on paper charts (using the old LORAN-C system!), and I too use both these apps today.

[@patrickdoyle6519]

As a new sailor today, would you agree with some the old timers that learning to do it manually, paper charts, sextant, and dead reckoning are still necessary skills?

[@HumanityWillPrevail]

Returning to sailing after a break of almost 20 years has been a revelation. As someone who always used paper charts, I seldom do now. I have 2 tablets and 3 phones all with native GPS (not network) running navionics and savvy Navvy and a plethora of other apps which have all but made paper charts obsolete. This direct comparison was really useful and I also tend to use both apps for much the same reasons. Savvy navvy for planning and Navionics for actual passage making simply because I find the Navionics interface simpler and easier to read when sailing. Great video, really instructive and good to see some of our frequent haunts too!

[@timlees660]

Another informative and interesting film, thanks very much

[@andrewjagoe-salter8754]

Excellent presentation, I have played with both apps and will use both for comparison.

[@63melvyn]

I’ve learnt more watching this video ,then any class room I’ve attended

[@rodcoop119]

Thank you doing that, easy to understand description. Great compassions too.

[@martijn2m]

Very educational and inspiring. I am going to dive into savvy navvy as well as combining navionics with my onboard raymarine.

[@davidbarrett7424]

Great comparison, thank you! I sail in the Bristol Channel and tide planning is really important to me..

[@william4292]

Hey Steve! Nice job of describing how you use chart-plotting software, and especially the comparison between Navionics and Savvy Navvy. As I spent 20 years in the US Navy, driving submarines using physical charts, I prefer a display that mimics their format. Thus, I have chosen to use iNavX software on a current 13" iPad. It is lightning fast and is like having a complete set of physical charts (without the juggling act!) with which to navigate. That said, I am between boats and have yet to actually use it in practice. We'll see what I think when I start actually sailing with it on my own boat next year.

[@svfairisle]

Sounds interesting I haven't tried iNavX

[@driesdejager4049]

Will deffinately try out, not sure it is any good in Madagascar. But will try anyhow. Great tutorial!

[@creatamax16]

Great precise video no waffle, earned a subscribe and will check out your other videos. Cheers guys!

[@RusstafaB]

An excellent well thought out demonstration, Savvy Navvy looks very interesting. Thanks for the time and effort, and of course the navigational skills, and experience to help us all.

[@ByMyRecords]

I will have you know I have watched all and I do mean ALL the top youtuber Sailing channels and you're Sailing Vessel, is dare I say the sexiest!

[@bally1213]

Thank you for posting this Steve, brilliant tuition 👍

[@SirPrancelot1]

Good information, thanks. Hope you have a great summer cruising.

[@grantrodgers2829]

Have used Navionics now for many years and find it incredibly useful, especially as we are doing so much family inshore sailing. That and predict wind for the forecasts. Yes its a faff to use multiple apps, but I know them and trust them. Redundancy of systems is key, I always have at least two devices with navionics on board at any one time. Great tech corner. Thank you

[@harrytimes8002]

That was an incredibly helpful video which has pursuaded me to download savy navy ( along with Navionics which I presently have ) - thank you. Henry

[@savvynavvy]

Great news Harry, we have added a few new features since this video which you will see in the app and more coming soon.

[@SailHosailing]

Well-argued and easy to watch as always, thank you. There's no doubt that GPS and electronic navigation have made sailing safer, and we (probably the MAIB too) would argue that any skipper would be crazy not to use the instruments they have at their disposal. On the other hand, we'd be very nervous without running a combination of paper chart and written logbook alongside electronics, even for short journeys. Whatever else happens, the pencil marks on the chart and in the book are going to be there for the duration of your passage (or until you sink - in which case, the whole discussion is moot). On questions of tide and weather, it really takes no time at all to calculate these manually and keep them under observation (though of course it's nice to have them presented graphically). It might be a problem to suggest to novice sailors that electronics are the answer in this respect, as there's a risk of running into danger in the same way that a driver might end up in a ditch - because the GPS said it was okay. Where we're really with you is the fact that charts are only as good as the day they were produced (Exmouth, for example, seems to change every tide). It's easy to update them, of course, but if you consider that some areas around the UK were last surveyed in the 19th century, it would suggest that neither paper nor electronics do quite the job that a good eyeballing can do :)

[@svfairisle]

Yes the biggest downside to electronic charts is people who think that means they don't have to use their eyes. You can't really blame the tech for that though, no system is perfect but usually errors are of the human kind no matter what!

[@SailHosailing]

@@svfairisle That's certainly true. And we've certainly made plenty of errors using electronics and paper. We've found that mistakes on paper are more easily traced, though.

[@SkipperSiCoates]

Simply brilliant summary - thanks

[@Cptnbond]

Thanks for this interesting review, and as you said it's always pro and cons with what ever solution you choose. I will indeed have a closer look at Savvy navvy. Cheers.

[@matthewlutter3745]

Very interesting and we'll put together video. The three videos of yours I have watched are all excellent.

[@svfairisle]

You've only watched three!!!

[@svfairisle]

I'm joking, thanks for watching :)

[@svfalcon3440]

Another great video Steve. Practical and informative for cruisers. And how refreshing AT LAST to hear from someone as experienced as yourself, that you don’t carry charts. We have precisely the same set up as you. Navionics and Savvy Navvy on multiple devices (Plus Nav on the B&G). They are both brilliant. Nav costs £40 for U.K. Sav Nav Elite £65 for global coverage. SV is far better for route planning under sail and the app just gets better and better all the time. We like to plot route and then flick between different days/times to find the fastest route. Far more accurate way of judging sailing time, taking into account tacking/tides/wind. Sav Nav also allows us to pull off our final route (via email) with relevant waypoints as a GPX file which we can load via an SD card onto our Chartplotter. So we use Savvy Navvy for passage planning and Navionics for passage making, If Savvy Navvy could make the visuals for depth contours a little more detailed and visually readable (not enough contrast/colour etc) then I reckon we’ll only need one app for the future.

[@svfairisle]

Sounds like you’ve got a great set up & yes I think the next generation will look back and laugh ‘ you did what?!!’ when they find out we have all this tech and some people still chose to draw a line of where they think they are on a piece of paper! I’m looking forward to playing with Savvy Navvy for passage planning.

[@christophecubier8326]

I’m satisfied with Weather 4D on Ipad with also Navionics. The 2 systems are complementary

[@RichieKeane]

Love SN as a planner and plotter with the boats instruments as primary. only thing to watch is sometimes the routing and depths can be squiffy sometimes. SN say its the settings but would always preview the route etc always download the maps before you set off..

[@antonynr]

Great info Steve! I've been struggling with the UI on qtVlm for a year now to get weather routing, Savvy Navvy has at last produced what I wanted with a decent Navionics style UI!!

[@alexfajardo8809]

I’m trying to look at those apps, but all I can see is your lovely boat 😍

[@disabledglobalchallenge290]

Great feature on Savey Navvy. thank you.

[@matjam8305]

GPS is good for a basic idea of where you are but my plotter always has me on land when I am nearby. I prefer to rely on visual and paper charts near land and my two phones each with numerous GPS maps (particularly the Russian ones which are difficult to find now). And always place importance on the compass and general heading with mental notes for when veering off and for how long. Even small charts/maps can be effective as long as you can make rough distance calculations to get a general idea. I am leaning more and more away from tech due to all the issues associated with them. However as always multiple (backup) systems is always a benefit.

[@matejlieskovsky9625]

Must be a problem with your plotter or GPS maps. Modern GPS receivers can have accuracy better than 1m. What setup were you using?

[@matjam8305]

I have a Raymarine plotter. Pretty much every gps device I have has me nowhere as close as you are saying and my gear - phones, tablets, computers are among the best on the market since I use them for work. And what I said about showing me on land is very common. Anyone foolish enough to rely on their GPS to navigate rocks or at night rather than visual deserves their outcome.

[@matejlieskovsky9625]

@@matjam8305 Interesting. My tablet is nowhere near being best on the market and I generally get accuracy to within 10m once the GPS synchronizes. My friend has an external GPS receiver that he used at work and that was reliably getting a position every second with an error of roughly 30cm. No idea how it did so, but dedicated hardware is dedicated hardware. From what I've seen so far, I would not be surprised if it is the charts that are off. But yeah, GPS is no replacement for a pair of eyes on watch.

[@matjam8305]

The accuracy is much better in urban settings where there are many towers to amplify signals. For instance I can pinpoint myself on my phone to withing 10 meter s (not 1 meter - wasthat a typo?) Sailing along the coast where the coast is steep or there are disturbances (many) often means being off by much larger distances of miles. Why's is this? When sats are high above so the angles off the coast should be nothing. Well let's just say things do not work the way we have been inculcated to believe. Suffice to say there are many things that are not as they really are. Cheers

[@matejlieskovsky9625]

@@matjam8305 That sounds like your devices are using ground station triangulation instead of actual GPS. If you wanna try figuring it out, I'd try turning off "improve accuracy" (which is what my tablet calls mixing GPS with ground station triangulation), going to airplane mode and/or running some GPS testing apps. Hard to tell what exactly is going on, but GPS should not behave like that at all.

[@DaveJohnEllis]

Another great video, very good overview and comparison. Interesting to see how you Navigate. I’m sure we’ll see an update after you’ve used Savvy Navvy in anger. Thanks again

[@meldwebb]

It might surprise you, but as a computer based instrumentation designer, I will always have a belt and braces paper back up. For those of us who sail more modest boats on a strict budget we have to be more circumspect. I learnt my lesson depending on pure electronics on a cross channel trip. The alternator failed and by the time I was 10 miles off Alderney my batteries were exhausted. Thank goodness for paper charts and my half hourly recording of position.

[@svfairisle]

It does surprise me yes!

[@casybond]

@@svfairisle I'm a software engineer too and also plan to have paper charts when doing longer passages. iPads only have half a day of energy when used intensively. Better have a few years old paper charts than nothing.

[@richardstamper5630]

Nice steady and informative review, just a bit shocked to see the lack of life jackets during that Italy / Croatia crossing? Anycase, we run a Garmin 10" auto routing Nav system which is very powerful but sometimes that's to its determent. With the Garmin we get extremely detailed charts but I can really see the beauty of running the Savvy Navvy alongside, mainly for the tide and wind information. The autoroute facility was something which sold us on the Garmin but in saying that, it can only be used when you are on the boat with a GPS fix. We like to plan our routes in the comfort of our home and then transfer them to the plotter but the autoroute function keep trying to navigate from our home position 120 miles inland. Of course we can create routes with waypoints but with modern electronics it's nice to take away some of the guess work. I suspect we will run Savvy Navvy to see what it thinks and then replicate this on the Garmin and save it as a route, mainly because the Garmin has Nema and a through hull depth sounder, plus the screen is extremely bright. It would be a real bonus if we could create charts on Savvy Navvy and then pump them into the Garmin but I guess that's asking too much. That or Garmin do a firmware update allowing us to create an auto route from any given location.

[@MartiA1973]

Worth subscribing for this comparison alone - thank you

[@ianqv]

Really helpful - I learnt a lot re the Navionics. thank you

[@JenandPen]

Excellent. I learned so much today. Thank you!

[@SailingFridaafWisby]

We have sailed cross the North sea and in the Baltic sea with only electronic charts. Now we are going to the Med but now we got some old charts that came with boat

[@svfairisle]

Well no harm in having them, see how much you actually use them. I like the large scale ones for thinking about where to go & where we've been, but don't actually plot on them any more.

[@william4292]

Hey Steve! Is it just a US thing that land navigation is done on "maps" and water navigation is done on "charts". I'm a retired submarine officer and we in the US Navy (and others) have always called water navigation tools "charts" (vice maps).

[@Jarek12010]

Good info, Steve, thank you. Keep them coming ;-) Since I am already here, I am having the hardest time finding the manual for Navionics, the tutorials from various sources I find sorely lacking, maybe I am getting old and dumb. Would you know how to delete a waypoint in Navionics? Or shorten the route you have laboriously prepared by removing the end waypoint? Better yet maybe you could make a video tutorial for Navionics, I find your presentation style very clear, concise and to the point.

[@svfairisle]

Ha! It’s more to do with having nimble fingers than being old and dumb… that’s my excuse anyway! To delete a waypoint (even the end one) just quickly tap on it and a little red box with ‘delete waypoint’ will pop up. If you hold your finger there for more than a split second it won’t work - be quick & nimble, pretend you’re 20 and in a rush!

[@jarekkanios2697]

@@svfairislethank you. It works ! How did you come up with this? It is not particularly intuitive. Especially the speed. Do you have a manual?

[@svfairisle]

@@jarekkanios2697 I don't have a manual no. Every now and then I do come up with something that stumps me and wish there was a good way of sorting out how to make something work, it's where I am with the Orca system that I'm testing at the moment. Luckily I've worked with most other systems long enough to have found all the idiosyncrasies now.

[@life.sunsets.sunrises]

Great edit and info

[@timoldman1147]

Great information and clearly explained. What brand of fleece is the ‘Norwegian ‘ Brx technology . It looks very comfy. Tim Oldman

[@svfairisle]

Yes it's really nice actually, it's just something I found when we went up to Lake Garda. The make is Scuola Nautica Italiana

[@davidclarke7728]

Very informative, I’ve taken a trial with savvy navvy

[@SwissGoat]

Great intro to both SV and Navionics, Steve - many thanks. I’m curious about the “no charts” strategy, with a bunch of iPads and phones as a replacement. You mention they’re sensitive to heat, water etc. which can be a nuisance, but with the eccentricities of Musk, sabre-rattling by Russia, 3rd World War conspiracies in the background, how reliable are satellites in the near future? Running out of your subscriptions without internet access could be interesting. The “no charts” downsides apply in light aviation as well….

[@svfairisle]

All these platforms work by you downloading the charts so they are stored on the separate devices. If the satellites went down all that would happen is you would loose your little position arrow, ie be the same as a paper chart! If WW3 is starting I think precision navigation would be the least of your worry’s!

[@sailingmarie7097]

Steve, did you check out Time Zero yet? You should if you haven’t yet.

[@DavidWilliams-bt6qe]

Thanks for putting this together for savvy navvy plus Navionics, would Samsung a7 with 4g be sufficient for those apps.

[@Stoic-of-Rome]

I tried the free trial of Savvy Navvy and ridiculously it still had lots of essential features locked out so the planning/use trial I wanted to do was impossible to do. Thats like going to do a test drive in a new car but the dealer not letting you leave the car park!! I decided to stick with Navionics.

[@davidcusworth5602]

Hey mark - sorry I just saw this. When you take the trial, you can use Elite so get all the functions. We've also updated many since this demo, so some new and exciting additions - all FOC.

[@richieedwardsworld]

Great video Steve very informative, more navigation videos would be amazing:)

[@svfairisle]

Glad you liked it, we’ve had a few sections on navigation in recent episodes as we’re tracking back right through the Med this season & across the Atlantic. I’m putting together a little look at the Orca system that I’m trying out so watch out for that

[@michaelkruger7022]

Thank you for this comparison. I tried SavvyNavvy on a 360 nm non stop around Seeland DK. It‘s a pity that SavvyNavvy doesn’t allow AIS overlay, but they say this is coming. Much more annoying is that SavvyNavvy wouldn’t accept a route under the Great Belt bridge, apparently thinking that this is a land barrier, suggesting a detour of 124 nm around Odense, I.e. a Full day of sailing! I understand that this is a new system, and I very much like the idea of a weather overlay, but shouldn’t the map material be ok? Maybe I made a mistake? Will see.

[@michaelkruger7022]

I chatted with Kevin at SavvyNavvy, they actually say on their website, that Denmark is not covered with high res maps. There is an issue with the Danish government or so. So it’s actually more my fault, not looking which regions they cover.

[@svfairisle]

Ah yes thats right, they're waiting for Portugal too.

[@fordyceeldred9409]

Surprised your not using Aquamaps

[@georgehallmey8360]

Excellent video, I've also used Neptune Navigations systems for passage planning, it gives me optimal times of departure based on tides and can import wind grip files. Might be interesting to compare in a future video. George.

[@whispjohn]

I was at sea in 1969 and as an apprentice navigating officer and all we had was charts, we used to get admiralty notices in most ports with corrections to charts, like a change buoy lighting or a moved sandbank etc. We had to correct them where relevant. We took noonday sights and worked out the position using that and dead reckoning, it was within a few miles which is ok while out on the open sea. I am still here to tell the tale. I knew sailors who could predict the weather pretty accurately from years of experience behind them, they were real sailors. These days a simple rope splice will have most "sailors" a bit lost. NEVER rely on technology it breaks down. learn the basics, using a sextant and dead reckoning, trust in your own abilities and practice taking sights each day.

[@svfairisle]

Yes I did all that, very glad I don't have to any more.

[@TrueFilter]

So never sail then as you are relying on all sorts of technology.

[@michaelkruger7022]

Just became aware of SavvyNavvy and so it‘s good to have all the information from you. Thanks. Now since Raymarine apparently stopped RayControl to have a usable surface on the iPad, I am trying to get Navionics to display AIS signals. I have to install another NMEA to Wifi box, which I will do this weekend. Does SavvyNavvy display AIS as well? Cheers Michael

[@svfairisle]

It’s the next planned update as far as I’ve been told. David from Savvy Navvy has commented on here so he may be able to pitch in with an update to that

[@savvynavvy]

@@svfairisle thats correct Steve. We're making changes to the weather routing feature for route saving and sharing as well as AIS integration. Our aim through all of this is to add features that are of real value while keeping the user experience as clean and intuitive as possible. David.

[@erkful]

@@savvynavvy a distance measuring tool similar to navionics would be a bonus

[@savvynavvy]

@@erkful thank you for the comment/suggestion. That is on our roadmap and part of the exciting route planner update feature. Along with a couple of other groundbreaking improvements. David

[@savvynavvy]

@@erkful you can do that now simply by dropping two pins and it tells you the bearing and range, this is part of the route planning feature. Do you mean separate from route planning? If so, then there is an additional feature coming soon that will allow you to measure distances from any point on your route.

[@CamsWoodcrafting]

So I'm not a sail boater, but I actually watched your whole video, and I actually learned a lot I was very interested in the side by side, I didn't want to go out and buy a radar and mapping system that would be very very expensive, so I find that the ipad's and apps side by side work really well, and its cheaper I am interested in knowing if on the routing will it following you or its just a static map thank you and yes I subscribed

[@svfairisle]

Yes all these apps show your current position and follow you just like a GPS in a car. Tablets and phones have very good GPS modules these days so you will always know your position to a couple of meters. The only device I know that doesn’t have built in GPS is WiFi only iPads, ie the ones without a SIM card slot. You don’t have to have a working SIM card it’s just these models don’t have GPS, at least they didn’t used to.

[@FreedomSalon1]

Another great vid. In the States, Sirius Weather provides a weather overlay for Navionics on Raymarine. It is a little pricey with hardware and subscription but it only has to save us once!

[@billhansen3211]

Well done. Very informative. Thank you.

[@thepigwillfly5869]

Great info, thanks, I am just now in the process of trying to decide what I should do for a second chart plotter and this help immensely. Say, do you have recommendations on dinghy? Alum Keel/Inflatable Keel/FG Keel......Hypalon/PVC......High Pressure Floor/Solid Floor???

[@svfairisle]

Have a look at the video we did on our Truekit dinghy. This is the best I think in the lightweight range, it goes into materials & things

[@calmwatersailor1947]

Hi Steve, regarding screen brightness at night with Navionics, have you tried Invert Colours on your iPad? I have set this as a shortcut, three taps on home button to use Inverted Colours and three taps again to revert to normal. Great at night 👍

[@svfairisle]

Didn't know about that, I check it out, thanks.

[@DrZond]

Navionics Boating has a distance and heading tool that I love. I sight an aid to navigation with my compass and get a heading. However if I start to take a second bearing, the first one vanishes. If the app was able to accumulate up to 3 lines at a time, it could be used to get a fix. Sometimes the satellite datum could be off, or the chart can be inaccurate. It's also a way to be sure the object I am looking at is what I think it is. I sent Navionics a suggest that they give it the ability to retain up to 3 lines at a time. Maybe if you like the idea, you could suggest it and they would listen to you more than me.

[@davidtilley2168]

Hi Steve, After carefully reading your reply to the issue of paper charts I will concede to your argument but I also wish to thank you for the demo and analysis you did on these 2 options for electronic navigation. I have been using NV paper Charts and their accompanying (free!) chart plotting software for about 3 years and have been happy with the results per se but the current electronic charts went out of validity last month so I decided to do some research before shelling out to renew the NV set or an alternative. NV seemed a very capable chart plotter in that it has inclusive weather and tidal stream overlays and the Auto-routing function included but after 3 years I had never quite figured out how the Auto-routing worked so I contacted the NV help desk and after much faffing around I was told it was not yet available in UK waters (you have to toggle off Auto and put waypoints in manually). I have now done a trial of Navionics and Savvy Navvy and the latter seemed like the best fit for me - but wait, I like to do my passage planning on my MacBook (larger screen) and the App on the Mac said I needed the latest M1 processor to use it. I was also unsure of whether my iPad (which does not have a SIM card for mobile signal) would allow GPS tracking. Unfortunately, after 48hrs dialogue with the Helpdesk at Savvy Navvy I was not able to get a definitive answer to these questions so I came back to this video and got contact details for Ben at Pro Marine Store. Ben is an absolute star and seems to know far more about Savvy Navvy than their own Helpdesk! So thanks for the video Steve and a huge vote of confidence and thanks to Ben. I will be spreading his praises and giving him the first call for anything I need for my boat

[@chrisvalford]

I purchased two small craft portfolios containing all the paper charts for Spain, and they came with keys for the whole Med, which was nice. The problem I have is that my iPad Pro draws too much current for the average 12v/USB car style charger, so doesn't charge properly. How do you charge your iPads? Ah, just watched the last couple of minutes and seen your bike lead. So now the question becomes, have you seen any chargers which can supply more than 1A, the iPad Pro is really hungry when the battery is low.

[@svfairisle]

Yes just make sure the USB socket you fit to the boat supply 2 of 3 amps at 5v. We have them all around the boat, inside and out. Some are 5 amp. P.S. try and get ones that are dual with a USB C socket as well as lots of things are moving that way, I'm sure iPads will.

[@JJ-sq9sy]

Thank you for this very informative and well presented video. We learn so much from your presentations. If working below, can a stand alone iPad pick up a GPS signal or is it necessary to connect to an external GPS Antenna?

[@thearchibaldtuttle]

Shouldn't be a problem if you are not in a steel hull. Never had any issue when using the iPad below.

[@svfairisle]

IPads are really good at holding on the GPS signals, having the iPad on the saloon table is below water level as Fair Isle sits well into the water, but never a loss of signal. If you have a steel boat then something like the GPS puck I showed in the video will do the trick.

[@dagnall53]

You need the "3G" Ipads to get internal GPS.. for soime reason Apple were too cheap to include the GPS on the "basic" versions... But you can use a standalone or ships GPS with a Wifi router to get GPS into these programs

[@svfairisle]

@@dagnall53 yes good point about the 3G iPad, I meant to mention that in the video.

[@thearchibaldtuttle]

@@dagnall53 Happened to a colleague. He got an iPad as a gift from his wife and he was all excited to use it for our next sailing trip. I had to tell him his model wont work. He has a girlfriend now.

[@johnwaugh6518]

very useful thanks

[@andrewpeacocke7508]

Great Steve, any plans to review the weather apps?

[@svfairisle]

Funny you should say that, I fired up Predict Wind (which is my usual choice) as we sailed out today and noticed they've added a couple more prediction models. I've tried to do a bit of a comparison before in a couple of episodes between the European and the Global models. I'll have to do some research on these new models and then maybe compare it with some other apps, it would take some time though to get a bit of a feel for which ones tend to me more accurate.

[@clivealexander3862]

I really enjoy your Technical Corner features, keep them coming please! I am about to buy an ipad for putting my electronic charts on, what specification would you suggest, as there are loads of different ipads? Which one do you use?

[@svfairisle]

We have an older iPad Pro and an iPad air. I fancy the larger new iPad pro, bloody expensive though!Just make sure you get one with built in GPS, the non sim versions don't have it (or they didn't that might have changed)

[@Neptuneboy1959]

@@svfairisle a workaround I've used to get GPS to non-sim iPads, is a GPS dongle that plugs in apple charge/ data port, (Lightning, USB C). Bad Elf is model I've used, allows charge cable connection pass- through.

[@juan6168]

Wonderful vídeo. Congratulations.

[@nederlander66]

Always.!!!!!! Order paper charts online or by package delivery for the trip ahead ,they are updated and ready to use. Simply because one single worst time event,and you are without power ,charts and compass will be left behind ready to use. As a master mariner in offshore I would give this advice .

[@svfairisle]

Except you will always have your compass, with the right precautions you will never be without power and good luck having charts sent when you are sailing around the world. I just down loaded the whole of the Eastern Med yesterday as it happens, took 10 minutes and cost a total of about £15 on many different systems. Charts would be hundreds of pounds, I would be waiting here in Montenegro for them for weeks and crucially they are nowhere near as good for all the reasons stated in the video!

[@nederlander66]

@@svfairisle in the professional world we always keep training on worst case scenario's that,s why my comments. love the show and keep posting vids.

[@Sailingkiss]

Liked this, as a novice coastal sailor found the review helpful

[@matbailey7730]

Also got a good deal on Savvy Navvy and really enjoying it

[@savvynavvy]

That is good to know Mat! Hope you have a great season.

[@SVZonda]

Steve another great informative video. (I for one, don’t think “you are dangerous”!!). I like the idea of using both programs for different situations. I think where this will really be useful is when you are going into a harbor that you have not been before. I find it interesting that Savvy Navvy (thanks Dave) has left you a comment AND has replied to others comments. Seems like a great company. Time will tell. BUT nothing from Navionics?! All the best Richard.

[@svfairisle]

Yes Savvy navvy seem to be very on it with help and also with feedback. There's even a button that comes up, bottom right hand corner, to send a message straight to one of their staff if you get stuck. Not sure if that extends to coming out and towing off a sand bank if you get really stuck!... might need the RNLI for that!

[@cosybike]

@@svfairisle The RYA Planning app can do that. It has its limits tho. Could be operator error but Mine called Clyde Coastguard when I was cycling up Buchanan Street in Glasgow. Will just save up pennies for an EPIRB!

[@briangilliland3620]

Yes, I found SN responses excellent but Navionics hasn't been the same since Garmin took them over. Silence is the loudest that you hear from them unfortunately

[@ooweesaler]

Excelent video but can you acess Galileo with ipad or only gps?

[@svfairisle]

Yes modern iPads and every iPhone since iPhone 8 has the ability to access Galileo GPS. The weird thing is Galileo was/is blocked in the US. Weirder still the US allows GLONASS gps ( the Russian signal) that was the case a few years ago anyway, they may have sorted it now. Galileo should give greater accuracy, but other systems are still down to less than a meter so for yacht navigation it’s not a big deal.

[@charliemcgrain]

Great content as usual, many thanks.

[@peterlee7553]

Thanks, I agree with your conclusions, I haven’t dragged my sextant out for years. Have gone completely electronic been using Navionics for some years but thought your review was very informative. SEAiq is another app with similar features that works particularly well in US waters downloading charts and weather data directly from the NOAA website.

[@savvynavvy]

We use NOAA data and thats included as part of your global chart, tide and weather pack which is standard Peter. Happy sailing.

[@bobrose7900]

Ever tried using a chart in high winds and rain? No, consigned to the saloon table... They both seem invaluable and very effective on a tablet - we're basing out next hardware purchase on these bits of s/ware. So far the Ipad comes out best, and it's got a built in barometer, surprisingly useful. Great reference review, well done. I didn't think Savvy Navvy would run on a laptop... does this require an additional license?

[@vrossign]

At around 7:25 you mentioned that the level of depth details in SN is not on par compared to navionics, is that something you have noticed everywhere ? How problematic is that ?

[@svfairisle]

yes seems to be. Navionics have good depth information anyway, but they also have information brought in from users from on board depth sounders, you can switch between the modes. I find this very useful. I haven't compared them outside of Europe yet though I'm just assuming it's similar elsewhere.

[@Steve-ul8qb]

Hey Steve. Can you tell me, what are the pink shaded areas in sn? Good vid, thanks!

[@svfairisle]

Pink shaded area? The only thing I can think of thats usually pink are the shipping lanes, where did you see this?

[@Steve-ul8qb]

@@svfairisle 4:55 yes. must be shipping lanes. Thanks 🙏

[@svfairisle]

Arh yes, got you now. They are shipping lanes but the pink shaded areas are the no man’s land between the actual lanes. You should start lining up when you get to them to cross properly. If you’re crossing the lanes you should do so at 90 degrees although your track can be skewed by the current (the quickest way across is aiming the boat straight across and letting the tide take you off line, not trying to make your COG exactly perpendicular.

[@DoubleUThings]

Thanx for this review! First several day trip in our lives is coming up (Kefalonia - Malta), so it's a nice "second opinion giver" to see if we don't do stupid things. 😁 Happy greetingz, Wim

[@richardmathews6552]

Really helpful. Thanks.

[@SVZonda]

Steve I have RE-watched this episode again as my torn between Navionics & Savvy Navvy. What are your thoughts as you have used them for awhile now? All the best Richard.

[@svfairisle]

I still use Navionics over Savvy Navvy but that may be just because I’m more used to it. I definitely prefer it’s charts for depth. Having said that being in the Med at the moment with no tide means I don’t use that function on SN maybe if I did need it I’d prefer SN? I don’t find the wind forecasts accurate enough to make the routing that useful, but again the Med has too much local weather to rely on forecasts

[@guttermancan]

can you have waypoints with the name of the waypoint showing on the screen on savvy navvy? I use navionics but it doesn’t allow this

[@svfairisle]

No, not that I’ve found. It just labels them A-B-C

[@claypass8424]

Am I wrong, but with paper charts and a sextant, don't you have to have the most current (annual) reduction tables for accuracy, so it's not only charts you have to carry, but pages and pages of the most recent almanac? Which at first I thought, well, just download those to a laptop, but then that defeats the purpose of a no electronic solution doesn't it?

[@mikekcarey]

At the moment we have paper charts and a ray marine c70 plotter fixed at the helm planning to get a iPad ( yes we don’t own a iPad) will the iPad we buy need cellular to work Savi nav ?

[@svfairisle]

Yes only the cellular ones have the GPS chip (or they did, may have changed in the last year but I don't think so) You don't need to have a sim card in it for it to work though, it uses no data for GPS.

[@sandystephen7827]

Another excellent tutorial !

[@MarcelloH]

Steve, can you please tell me which gps tracker you use to connect the ipad with?

[@svfairisle]

I did buy an external gps puk years ago but I don’t use it. The inbuilt gps on the iPads (and iPhones for that matter) are so accurate and reliable it does it all itself. I think it’s still the case that you do need a version that can take a SIM card though, you don’t need to have a SIM card installed however it just that the ones without don’t have gps.

[@OMIF1]

So, a year on, what are your thoughts on Savvy Navvy?

[@svfairisle]

I like it as a back up ? second opinion, but I still use Navionics as my primary. Thats mainly because I like the depth charts on Navionics. I will give it a proper go at the start of the season though as they are all changing.

[@garrycampbell1211]

Great Thanks Garry

[@davegoulding2409]

Hi Steve, is there an option to upload your Savvy Navvy route to your Navionics system for auto pilot etc? Cheers... Great content by the way, how things have changed over the years...

[@svfairisle]

No doesn't work with auto pilot, I suppose some motor boaters might want that, but I can't see it being of much use on a yacht?

[@biscuitbarrel3397]

Are you still in Italy? I am still stuck in Sicily as it's still Orange zone. Hoping i don't get in trouble when i try to leave..

[@svfairisle]

We are sailing, but still on Italy, we will cross to Croatia as soon as we have decent wind. We have overrun our Schengen time but frankly we are just going to go and sort it out in Croatia, I’m not sure if they’ll care about the Schengen thing & they just want a test on arrival or a vaccination cert. so hopefully it will be okay. Where are you headed from Sicily?

[@biscuitbarrel3397]

@@svfairisle hoping to head to Albania or Maybe croatia from Brindisi. Did try set off the other day had covid tests and got a green pass but had a blow out that caused some damage to camper and had to get new tyres. By the time I had it all sorted the green pass had ran out. Hoping Sicily will change yellow on Monday so will try again then... Looking forward to more sailing videos! Want to try sailing but get sea sick really bad..

[@sailingforeverautumn]

I know this is an old video, but I would be curious to know, 3 years on, which one you use most of the time?

[@svfairisle]

At the moment I use Navionics and Orca. To be honest I haven’t renewed my membership to Savvy Navvy because I’ve been testing lots of other systems. There will be a review of Orca, that I’ve been using for a year now coming out on Saturday, it has some advantages ( and some things it’s not so good at!)

[@sailingforeverautumn]

@@svfairisle Thanks for replying. I was signed up for a test sail with the Orca people a couple of years ago. I cancelled it, but I see they have a free app out. I also use navionics but am trialling lots of other apps too.

[@ginocavicchioli7559]

Excellent presentation Steve🙏 Thank you. My wife wishes to learn the sexton. Can it be used on electronic charts? I hate to get paper charts just because she has a sexton.

[@svfairisle]

You need paper charts I’m afraid. A sextant shot just gives you a line not a direct position. So for instance the ‘noon shot’ which is the easiest one to do charting the sun at celestial noon will give you a line of latitude. If all you’re going to do check your latitude on a long passage then I suppose you could just look at it on the plotter, but it will kill the fun as the plotter will know exactly what latitude your at! ( still good to test how accurate your sextant shots are though ) With a chart you can do the whole thing properly by bring the line forward by dead reckoning then do star shots to by bisecting lines and you ‘cocked hat’ which shows your somewhere within the cocked hat. Then your trying to get that cocked hat as small as possible with further shots but to be honest until you get very good at it the only time you manage to bring the cock hat down to a size less than a couple of square miles is by bearings from points on land or more usefully in the old days using an RF direction finder but unfortunately they aren’t transmitted any more.

[@dwayne6402]

Being that you are familiar with the EU VAT. I am wondering what the rules are for a non EU boat and non EU resident as far as having to pay the VAT? Lets suppose its an American registered boat owned by a Canadian couple who would like to sail in the Med. for extended periods?

[@svfairisle]

I think 18 months is the limit for everyone outside the EU. I know it's rarely implemented though, big risk with an expensive boat though!

[@dwayne6402]

@@svfairisle What if a Canadian buys a boat within the EU say France (I like the Bali line)

[@ilricettario]

What happens if the GPS goes down?

[@svfairisle]

Well then there’s probably a 3rd world war so who cares! No seriously about the only thing that could knock out all three GPS world systems would be a huge solar flare but think about it you’re still better off than paper charts ( they never give a position fix) and you still have perfectly good vector charts with all the detail.

[@simons780]

Very useful and interesting. I've had trouble with Navvy Savvy on my iPhone, had to get a refund as it would constantly crash. But I would really like to like it.

[@savvynavvy]

Sorry to hear that Simon. If you message me - [e-mail] I'll look at that issue for you.

[@simons780]

@@savvynavvy Thanks, I've already got a refund on my Elite yearly subscription and can no longer test it. But it would constantly reload or show error messages on my iPhone 11 which otherwise has no issues and sufficient memory.

[@savvynavvy]

@@simons780 I can reinstate a trial for you so you can see if we've ironed out any bugs and also test out the new features Simon? Here if you need us. David

[@briangilliland3620]

Aah, try an Android phone (and tablet) Solves most problems and far less expensive. :)

[@johndorward5270]

very informative many thanks

[@michaelbundy3867]

your comment on Brighton Marina 🤣.

[@abavarianboy8904]

You’ve never been to Newhaven, I bet Brigthon Marina would be a charm...? 😅😂

[@michaelbundy3867]

🤣🤣

[@jacquesleroux5882]

Spot on, Steve - including your comments on redundancy and WWIII fears. I place much more confidence in a handheld GPS, batteries in shrink-wrap, and a fold-up solar charger in the life raft than grabbing a paper chart and pencils on the way out and hoping it will survive the prevailing conditions. Each to his own, but the Luddites do appear to be particularly reactive. And obtuse. Unfortunately, Mr. Sextant et al still appear to unnecessarily complicate the curriculum for Yacht Masters and other qualifications, putting off many youngsters. This is no doubt a result of the curriculum being set by those of a we-had-to-do-it-and-so-will-you mindset. Morse code, ditto; it should all be the territory of anoraks instead of still being taught in navigation. I find it akin to expecting learner-driver to how to saddle a horse before licensing them to operate a motor vehicle. Just in case, you know!

[@svfairisle]

Ha! Yes as is so often the case tuition will lag behind with its Luddite tendencies and the old salts that just say it’s ‘unseamanlike’ to go to sea without paper charts without understanding the alternatives.

[@jacquesleroux5882]

@@svfairisle Ed Zacchery. Human nature, the comfort of the familiar, confirmation bias. I imagine there would have been resistance to the sextant too, when it was a new technology... Oh, the irony! 🙂

[@DeanColegate]

Thanks Steve, that was a very interesting comparison. As a Navionics user I'm keen to see if new pretenders can knock them off their perch. There is another factor in the electronic vs paper charts, as you're planning a circumnavigation have you done any research into likely costs of both for the whole trip?

[@svfairisle]

I haven't worked out exact figures but I once read somewhere that a full set of charts for the whole world would be in the region of £20,000! I think Savvy Navvy would be cheaper than Navionics because Navionics charge by areas, but without charts I would want a couple of electronic options anyway plus one for the boats chart plotter (which is always more expensive because of the usual 'oh it's for a yacht lets charge 10 times the price!' ) but we're talking hundreds not thousands, and of course open CPN is free.

[@savvynavvy]

We offer global chart access as part of one subscription Dean so a circumnavigation with us would cost £65 per year (if you had the Elite subscription).

[@DeanColegate]

@@savvynavvy Wow, that sounds pretty incredible. I presume, and forgive my ignorance here, that companies like yourselves base their core electronic charting on the the same raw data and it's the way you present that data (plus weather/currents/etc.) that differentiate your product?

[@savvynavvy]

@@DeanColegate Thats correct .We take hydrographic office data and then build savvy charts from that. As Steve mentioned in the video that means leaving out some data which isn't relevant to leisure mariners - like submarine cables 100's of feet below the surface. We try to keep your view clean and easy to understand. Our routing algorithm is the "magic" and unique in the field currently. No one else gives you a true weather route. But if you don't want to plot a route you can quickly and easily get a visual indicator of the conditions.

[@pauljamison3340]

The storage behind your cockpit is it something you purchased and put there? If so where did you get it from?

[@svfairisle]

No all Hans Christians have the teak boxes from new. They're all different as you could specify amount size shape etc. We have extra

[@pauls9830]

We have found the sonar charts on Navionics to be pritty useless, when you have a rise of tide of say 3m then its the green drying bits that are of interest, I know I have enough depth on any blue bits of the chart (it must be over 3m) but the drying areas may or may not be deep enough to cross. Navionics remove all the data from the green areas when you switch to sonar charts!

[@svfairisle]

Yes stuff above chart datum isn't surveyed properly anywhere, to be fare it can't be really.. But I disagree completely about Navionics I've found their sonar charts to be really excellent.

[@pauls9830]

​@@svfairisle It was great video and good to hear the comparisons. We tend to sail around the south coats of England and north Brittany, many of the entrances to the harbours in Brittany are over the green bits of the chart with tidal access and that’s the bit that concerns me. If we are in 5m or 7m doesn't really matter but 1.5m or 2.5m makes all the difference! We upload our sonar data with the download/uploads and I had hoped it would get added, even if it doesn’t it would be good if they didn’t remove all the spot hights from the charts (they are present on the standard navigation charts just not the sonar charts). The med is far less tidal and probably not significant for you at present but entering somewhere like Binic where the last mile is all over drying (green) chart it really would be helpful, the sonar chart just shows a big green area with no data at all, at least the standard chart shows 4.2m drying and the probably line of the river bed. Thanks for producing such profeshional and interesting videos.

[@svfairisle]

Yes I feel your pain. I spent many years a s a teenager sailing with my father in a bilge keeler on the East coast. It was great playing in the shallows knowing you cant really come to grief but bloody difficult to not get caught out. We still push our luck a bit with Fair Isle in the tides and have grounded many times, but always in soft stuff and on a rising tide, I don't take risks otherwise. It does pay to have an encapsulated keel and keel hung rudder though, a boat with twin rudders touched the bottom of the Chichester marina lock on the way though as we have done many times and lost all steering. You don't want to play games with fragile boats!

[@mpdsailing]

Brilliant presentation!

[@TheBeggFamily]

Only Savvy Navvy is available on Android. I have iPad _ Google Pixel phone.

[@sphynx098]

Not sure if this is a stupid question but can't you just download the predict wind GRIB file and view it offline instead of taking screenshots?

[@svfairisle]

Yes you could do that, obviously both ways once off shore you'll be working with old forecasts. I usually only resort to the grib files if I'm trying to update a weather forecast while sailing and I'm only getting a weak slow signal.