The next Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) Conference, organised by their Small Craft Group (SCG), will address the highly important topic, of the Shifting Sands of Navigation and Pilotage for Small Vessels at Sea and the uncertainty which surrounds it. The Conference, to be held at CA House, in London and online on 24 February 2024, will feature talks on this topic by industry professionals, trainers and officials; it is of extreme relevance for leisure sailors, and the navigation equipment industry.

The momentum over the past few years to move away from paper charts to electronic charting has grown significantly.

Some countries’ Hydrographic Offices (HOs) had already announced, and set dates for, the withdrawal of their official paper charts, within a time-frame of what is now less than 3 years. However, over the last year or so a greater understanding of the implications and issues that still need to be addressed has been reached. These issues include back-up systems/software and, of course, training. The global nature of the electronic chart publishers and equipment manufacturers has also highlighted the requirement for any such standards to be agreed internationally.

Approved electronic charts and systems for leisure vessels are, however, just a small subset of the approval requirements for the so-called “sub-ECDIS” sector worldwide. Consequently, whilst the timescale for the withdrawal of paper charts by the UKHO has been extended from 2026 until at least 2030, there is still much to be accomplished in the intervening years, if this revised time-frame is to be met. The RIN’s Electronic Navigation Systems Guidance booklet - due to be updated in 2024 - and the RIN’s Electronic Navigation Conferences are designed to address these issues and inform leisure craft users, as we slide inevitably towards an all-encompassing digital navigation future. To find out more about this hybrid Conference and to register visit the RIN website event page https://rin.org.uk/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1656297&group=

Above copied from an article originally published in Navigation News.

Confirmed speakers at the Conference include Anders Bergström from Raymarine, Jelte Liebrand from Savvy Navvy, Paul McKenzie & Luke Allen from Furuno, Hugh Agnew from A+T Instruments Ltd., Carlo Alberto Galli and Michele Graziani from Garmin/Navonics, Lucy Wilson from Imray, Richard Falk from the RYA, Jane Russell from the RIN, C-Map and UKHO.