Seattle, WA   December , Number 28



Now is several ebook formats
Annotated NavRules now available as free online resource

Starpath Annotated Navigation Rules is now available in ebook format. This is a valuable aid to those who sail in both US Inland and International waters.

We have recently also highlighted the distinctions in the Annexes as well, which show some interesting differences.

We have checked and updated the Rules as of June, 2013.



  

Starpath Sailor's Log

our new logbook is now available. see Starpath Sailor's Logbook... and just in time for Christmas!

We are confident that if you try this for a few local passages you will see its value. Simple, and to the point.


  

New Monthly Nav Quiz

We started a Monthly Nav Quiz open to the public, and of course all students and customers as well. Monthly prize for correct or closest answer is winner's choice of an ebook from Starpath Publications.

We will announce winners at the beginning of each month and post the results on our (Facebook page).

Quizzes will cover all areas of marine navigation and weather... on varying levels. We start with one that might be described as medium to medium hard, but of notable historical interest to navigators.

We encourage all of our instructors to submit answers so we can double check that we have it right. Thanks.


  

International Geocaching Logo
New freeware index and Facebook news

We have added a shortcut to our freeware products so they are easier to reference. See this at starpath.com/freeware.

We have also just posted a link on our facebook page about the history of the US steps toward (and away from) converting to metric units. It is a bit of a read and weep situation, but now that no department has any money for anything, it is more legitimately a non-issue.

There is also there a note on geocaching... in this case with a sextant. But sextant or GPS, this could be a valuable way to teach children (should they be in the picture) about navigation, and even sneak up on some basic math.


  

Can an iPad push your laptop off the chart table?

Well... maybe not quite yet, but it is getting real close.

Check out the new hotspot function of Iridium satellite phones. With this new phone and service your iPad and iPhone can make wireless connection to your sat phone in the middle of the ocean to download not just your email, but also GRIB files for weather forecasts as well as echarts as needed.

With the echarts you are still best off waiting till you get to real wifi, since they are big files, but the handwriting is on the wall. See www.starpath.com/getcharts.

iPad nav apps like Memory-Map, iNavX, and Motion-X are very powerful tools as well as the remarkable GRIB weather product called WeatherTrack.


  

Can exceptional behavior be considered ordinary?

The answer is Yes, according to Justice Wilmer in the 1955 case of Velox vs Viking Monarch, wherein one anchored vessel dragged anchor and collided with another when both were sheltering from a severe storm, when there were maneuvers and procedures that might have avoided it if taken.

The nicely put conclusion was:

"I have been reminded, and quite properly reminded, that no seaman can be called upon to exercise more than ordinary care (we add, see Rule 2a); but I think it is necessary to observe that when a seaman is called upon to face wholly exceptional conditions, ordinary care of itself necessarily demands that exceptional precautions may have to be taken."

In other words, it is the ordinary practice of seaman to take exceptional precautions in exceptional conditions, just as it is take normal precautions in normal conditions.


  

Starpath on Facebook

Not really something we thought we would ever be writing, but we have had many requests and many of the folks we are involved with take part.

We are not up to speed on how to use it best yet. Will likely be something like this newsletter but maybe with more peripheral content... ie more on the social side of Starpath. Might do a note on our famous coffee, for example, and how we come about this involvement ranging from coffee tree to roaster to our beautiful Pavoni espresso machine, and so on.

See Starpath Nav on Facebook


  

A wonderful source of new and used books, and a world leader in ebook sales and support.
Starpath ebooks on Mac and eReaders

Our elibra ebook format works only on PCs, but we now have Adobe pdf versions that work on Macs and other readers like ipads and Android tablets. They will also show in smart phones, but our books have large complex pages that are a bit hard to read on a phone screen. They are great on the tablets.

They are available online from Powells Books.

We partner with Powells in Portland, OR in part because they are such a wonderful bookstore, one of the largest in the world, but mainly for this job because they are the only one we know of that offers real human tech support with ebooks.

We have started converting all of our ebooks to this format, but it will take a while to accomplish this. See notes here on how the optional new ebooks impact our online courses.




  

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