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I run Maptech "Offshore Navigator" which is misleading since it works fine all the way up the Hudson River past Albany. I don't plot waypoints in advance. I look at the chart to see that the boat is going in the direction I want and push the button on the autopilot.
I have plotted things like the race course for the Key West Offshore Power Boat races so I can avoid entering the course. And I have used "auto create route" to plot the safe entry through Little Egg Harbor (NJ) inlet where the CG doesn't plot the ATONs. I've also run a line from Great Bay back to a creek where the Crab Shack is located. All that is really no-brainer stuff.
The computer is below and is repeated on the bridge with an LCD monitor and trackball. The computer froze up once and flashed a warning that it was time to dead reckon. That's once in five+ years.
The Maptech also shows tide status, current direction and speed and marinas although I suspect the marina stuff is only those that chose to pay in. The Maptech software has kept me off the bottom from Nantucket to Key West.
The down side? My pencil and paper nav skills are ruined. The anchor is my backup.
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