Customer Case Studies

Martin Perry

“You may be interested to know that the weekend before last (2/3 August 2003) I left Cherbourg in my 37' Westerly yacht Blue Chip and two miles offshore I used Navmaster to work out the tides for a passage to Bembridge Ledge buoy off the east end of the Isle of Wight.

As conditions were fair, I set the autohelm for the prescribed course and only once needed to change course during the 10 hour passage - that was right at the end to stop hitting the Bembridge Ledge buoy. Amazing!”

Theo van Dyck

“Thankyou and all other folks at PC Maritime. To date all my dealings with PC Maritime have been friendly but above all effective. The overall system is a pleasure to use, fast (on my laptop anyway), reliable, surprisingly stable and very user-friendly.”

John Fisher, Master of sv Tenacious, Jubilee Sailing Trust

“Tenacious is Britain’s largest seagoing sailing vessel at 700 tonnes, and we make short voyages of about one week around the coast of the British Isles and NW Europe in spring and summer, and in the Canary Islands during the winter. Working throughout the year and navigating in often tricky coastal waters with heavy traffic and big tides, we have come to rely on Navmaster. We carry up to 40 voyage crew each trip, all of whom are either interested in navigation or just curious to see where we are and to watch our progress. The PC system is ideal for this; some are wheelchair users and not very mobile, others have visual impairment but can still get a good picture from the screen with its bright colour contrast, and all are amazed by its versatility. At the end of each voyage, we print off a track chart for each member of the voyage crew to take home with them, as a true record of the voyage.”

Brian Freeman

“Your telephone helpline is the most effective I have experienced among very many others.”

Andy Bristow, Expedition Leader, British Army Antarctic Expedition

“Navmaster has been performing superbly (we have not had a single problem with it throughout our stay in the Antarctic). On many occasions it proved worth its weight in gold as poor visibility, extremely strong winds and very poor visual references which made navigation by traditional means particularly difficult. The Neumayer Channel was a perfect example. It is a narrow channel only hundreds of metres wide but very deep and surrounded by vast mountains on either side. In it, we were confronted by a 60-knot squall which reduced headway to nothing. Visibility was reduced by snow showers to nothing too; snow also significantly degraded the radar picture. The channel was too deep for any depth information to be useful. Navmaster was the perfect tool for providing instantaneous easily-readable information that gave enormous confidence and allowed me to navigate safely through the channel - and to spend more time dodging the “John Laing” around the icebergs that flowed down the channel on the strong currents.”

Cedric Flood

“I cruise about 2000 miles each year in my Fisher 37 and the laptop is an essential part of my navigation set-up. I find that my crew very quickly adapt to Navmaster and most are soon adept at most aspects of the program. Even the least computer-literate can manage to set the autopilot to follow a route and happily monitor its progress. Another pleasure is to sit at home during the winter and plan or fine-tune routes, and review previous passage logs. I continue to be very satisfied with Navmaster and the technical support.”

Donald MacKenzie

“I use Navmaster for family cruising around the Western Isles of Scotland on a standard laptop on my Rival 34. The laptop connects to a Garmin 128 and boat’s 12v supply via a standard cigarette adapter. The laptop’s battery will ensure around three hours running should the boat supply fail, and a hand-held Garmin 12 can connect should the 128 fail. I have found that Navmaster significantly increases the time I have to enjoy the sailing, keep an eye on the children and reassure my wife that we’re going where we’re supposed to be going! We have been around Islay, Jura and Mull, as well as through some of the more tricky channels including the Corryvreckan, Sound of Barra, Sound of Harris and St. Kilda. Last year I cruised up to the Faroe Islands. In all circumstances thus far encountered, the system has worked very well indeed and I recommend it to everyone.“

Peter Somers

“Last summer we used Navmaster extensively to plan the position of the Windward Marks in the America’s Cup Boats Series in the East Solent. Our main task was to ensure that the windward legs from the Start Committee vessel were the correct length and truly to windward allowing for the current and future current. We were also required to provide a wind direction and strength at Dean Elbow buoy at 0815 each day and then record the wind situation every 5 minutes from where we predicted the Windward Mark would be needed at the time of the Start. On two days visibility was down to 250 metres, and with the aid of GPS information from Navmaster and GPS output also linked into the radar, we were able to do the job much faster and more accurately than plotting on paper charts.”

Ian Miller, Director, Sony Information Technology Group

“Initially Navmaster was purchased as a demonstration application at the launch of the Sony VAIO notebook computers. In this regard it performed well. It quickly proved to be more than just a demonstration package however, and the system has proved invaluable on many occasions. In particular in the series of RORC Races to Cherbourg, St Malo and the Channel Isles, the ease of passage planning, position plotting and log keeping encouraged other crew members to become involved in navigation. At least three of my sailing colleagues have since purchased Navmaster as a direct result of using the system. I would particularly commend PC Maritime's technical support service. My many initial queries on system interfaces etc were handled with unfailing politeness and helpfulness - and more importantly, I have always been given the correct answer or solution, usually within a few hours.”

Roy Shears

“I like Navmaster as it uses Admiralty charts that I have used for years. I like the chartpoint and routeing parts of the system; I have hundreds of chartpoints around the coasts of England and France which means that a new route can be assembled very quickly. One story worth telling is a trip from Brittany to Guernsey. It was very misty with visibilty at no more than 2 miles all the way. As we approached Guernsey the visibility dropped to less than 50 yards. Using the radar and Navmaster we were able enter St Peter Port without ever seeing the coast of Guernsey until we went through the entrance of the harbour. This gave me a lot of confidence in the whole system.”

Michael Cannan

“I chose a PC-based system for ease of use, with paper charts as backup. I use Navmaster for cruising the English Coast, Normandy and the Channel Islands. Onboard my laptop is integrated with GPS and Seatalk from my Autohelm. I find Navmaster very useful for passage planning, especially with the tidal information added. The log facility and vessel track plotting are also very useful. Not being very computer literate, I subscribe to the maintenance scheme and I find PC Maritime most helpful if I have a problem - which is generally solved over the phone.”

Stuart Robinson

“I went serious shopping at the 1999 Southampton Boat Show. The Navmaster program had the familiar Windows look, it used Admiralty charts and the people on the stand gave the confidence that there would be reliable product support. After examining the competition, I placed an order for Navmaster with no regrets. Would I recommend buying a laptop and Navmaster? Certainly. Support from PC Maritime? - I cannot praise this too highly. The advice and support given is clear, concise and unhurried.”

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