{"id":476,"date":"2005-09-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-09-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=476"},"modified":"2009-04-15T08:59:57","modified_gmt":"2009-04-15T13:59:57","slug":"s_logs-dashew-dashew230","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/s_logs-dashew-dashew230\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Knowledge"},"content":{"rendered":"
We asked the SetSailors to write about their sources for local knowledge.<\/div>\n

One of the pleasures of cruising is the research that gets passed on to future cruisers. Of course, there are all sorts of resources to get info – on the web, guide books, and charts. These are good for an overview. However, we still like to get our detailed information from folks who have recently been or are where we want to go.<\/p>\n

This is most easily accomplished – still – with SSB or Ham radio. In most cruising areas there are morning nets, through which you can ask your questions.<\/p>\n

Of course you have to judge the quality of the information you are being given, and sometimes the data from two sources may conflict. When this information does not affect the safety of the vessel, you do not have to be as careful. But where navigation data is involved – for example the waypoints leading into a harbor – we rarely rely on outsiders, unless we know them well. Our basic rule is still that we do not go into unfamiliar harbors or anchorages at night. And in coral-infested tropical waters, we want good visibility the first time through an area.<\/p>\n

Once we arrive in a new gathering place for cruisers, there is usually a wider range of local knowledge options. For example, we’ve been hanging out in a small town in Northern Fiji, called Savu Savu. There are 30+ other cruising yachts here. The morning VHF net is a great source of local knowledge, and a place to ask questions about anchorages along the track. There are yachts here which are planning on heading east to Vanuatu in a month, and others heading north to the Marshall islands for the hurricane season. Between these two groups, a lot of research has been done.<\/p>\n

Yesterday Chris from Billabong<\/em> came by to demonstrate an interactive CDR with data on New Caledonia and Vanuatu. This CDR starts with satellite images of all the islands, passes through reefs, and anchorages, and then shows you photos at boat level. In addition, there are waypoint coordinates, and pop-up windows with local information. For a copy of the CDR go to www.cruising-vanuatu.com<\/a> .<\/p>\n

This CDR is a wonderful source of local knowledge and a great planning tool. We suspect there will be more of these created by local governments as a way to promote cruising in their areas.<\/p>\n

Working your way through the reefs and islands of northern Fiji is not for the faint of heart. Most of the charts are lacking in detail, and are off by a substantial distance in terms of their coordinates. However, several of the local boats have taken their GPS tracks, and created a set of corrected charts, which will get you into and out of various spots.<\/p>\n

Still, we would not be comfortable using this as our only source for a first time around. But as a planning aid, and an adjunct to normal eyeball navigation – which requires good light – this is a great help.<\/p>\n

Now that most cruising yachts have GPS tracks, as well as electronic charting systems onto with which you can create your own track, these can be used as well. If you can import the track of another yacht into your electronic navigation system or GPS, then you know that at least on that exact route there is going to be a certain amount of water below your keel. Transferring this data is best done between like types of GPS and\/or software. We’ve done this for some of the areas we’ve traversed in Fiji.<\/p>\n

There are some forms of local knowledge which must be "interpreted", or taken with a grain of salt. We’ve learned the hard way that many locals do not want to tell us anything negative or unpleasant. So, we try to frame our questions in such a way as to get an accurate as opposed to a polite response – although this is not always successful. Distances and depths are good examples. When a local tells you there is plenty of water, he may mean this in reference to his long boat or canoe, rather than a relatively deep draft yacht. And when someone says it is "not far," this can be in local context – which might mean the next valley as opposed to across the island.<\/p>\n

Regarding printed data, charts, guide books, pilots, etc. – we add this data to the mix, but rarely do we totally depend on it, especially when there is a risk to the boat from incorrect or incomplete data.<\/p>\n

Right now we are endeavoring to find out the cost of duty-free fuel in Apia, Western Samoa and Pago Pago, American Samoa. Tomorrow morning we’ll log onto a local SSB net and ask anyone in those areas if they have a contact for us or know the actual costs. We’ve already gotten a feel for the subject from someone here in Savu Savu on the VHF net – and want to fill in with more data before deciding on where to go (we’d like to avoid American Samoa if possible).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We asked the SetSailors to write about their sources for local knowledge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dashew-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}