Sailing Online Route Planner???

[lewistintin]

I am after an online planner for a boat journey I am planning. I want to go from France down through spain. I cant find anything on the internet to do this without having to pay a fortune for it. Anyone got any ideas where i can find such software, that will give me estimated times etc?

Thanks,

Lewis

[Tripps]

Anything that can predict travel times for boats is going to be more complex and specialist than car navigation, hence why they charge for it. Bear in mind the car navigation sites have motives behind giving you free route planning which might not work so well for those based on the sea - nearest hotels, restaurants etc. aren't much good mid-Atlantic!

I'm no expert on the wet stuff but my fellow director has shown me through his yatch's nav kit a few times and there is a lot more to it that for road navigation. Speed of boat and propulsion (engine vs sails), tides, wind, shipping lanes, depth of water and various other matters. Then if you need to stop over anywhere you need to marina entry times if they have a tide.

It's all very complex and he's spent a fortune on kit to work it out, it will do an initial route plot but it is changing permanently and tide and wind move the boat off course.

However, try giving GilesS3 a bell, he manages a marina, so is in the know on these things.