We’ve been testing a beta copy of the new release of Rose Point Navigation’s charting program called Coastal Explorer. The original release was a little too basic for our needs, but the new version – while elegant in its simplicity – has most of the features we want to see in our charting program. It has served us well between California and our jumping off point for Greenland, Mary’s Harbour, Labrador.

To begin with, it is easy to set up the data panels on shown on the right, and then to organize them to suit your needs.

Another feature we like is the ease of getting rid of space-hogging extraneous data. Notice that the top and bottom of the screen is all chart (switched on/off with F11).

Same chart now, but with a single mouse click the data panel has been removed (it comes back easily too). When we are working in close to land, this is the way we normally have our computer screen.

We also like the chart printing function (which needs only a scale overlay to make it perfect). Set-up on a new computer is automated and straightforward, and chart management and update functions work well.

Rose Point has quietly been penetrating the market, and is now supplying their program to various resellers around the world. If you get a chance to try Coastal Explorer in one of its forms, do so. It could be what you are looking for.

We are now switching to test the latest version of Nobeltec, and will report what we find.