Why is nautical navigation still exclusively taught with paper charts?

Question

I have recently read some books and courses on nautical navigation. All of these start teaching how you use paper based navigation charts, and teach the usage of protractors and such. There is even the guidance to mark the route on the chart with a pencil, so it can easily be erased afterwards. The obvious alternative would be to use electronic navigation equipment that can simplify these tasks a great deal.

Now, I understand that sailing is very much an exercise in risk management, and everything must have a backup and a second backup - so even star navigation is taught in some places. However, I would expect that when sailing a decently sized and equipped vessel, I personally would have access to:

• Primary navigation equipment built into the boat, including GPS and charts
• Laptop with downloaded charts and navigation software
• Tablet with downloaded charts and navigation software and GPS
• Phone or several phones with downloaded charts, navigation software and GPS
• A floating handheld navigator with GPS and charts (or two)
• GPS location on my waterproof wristwatch, perhaps even charts

In addition to these, there would be several ways to generate power on the boat, and several power banks that can be used to charge equipment.

The unexpected can always happen and depending too much on technology can be a problem - but I am honestly having a hard time figuring out a situation where I would have access and means to use a paper chart, but would not have at least one electronic device with GPS and charts available.

So is this vestige of simpler times, or is there a significant reason to actually have a paper chart and tools for navigation and taking the time to learn their usage.

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Thank you for the answers so far. Even though there hasn't been a lot of new information in them, they have been very helpful in understanding the mindset.

Answer 1

The point of a navigation course is to teach people how to navigate, not how to use particular electronic devices.

The principles of navigation are most easily taught using ordinary (paper) charts, without having to deal with the idiosyncrasies of particular devices - not to mention that it's easier to provide working charts for all the students if they are simple, reliable and cheap.

If the vessel you end up working on has electronic charts, then all the principles learnt on a navigation course (e.g. understanding the symbol sets, calculating tidal streams, planning a passage) can be applied regardless of the particular device used.

Remember that the course is to teach the unchanging principles, and any time spent dealing with the particular implementations is a distraction from that objective.

Answer 2

The simple answer is that electronics fail, paper doesn't. You can read the paper map now, 6 hours from now, next week, next month, next year and it will be the same, but your devices will run out of power and be unusable in a short time-frame.

Those points in your question all rely on the use of powered devices. The GPS on your tablet/phone/watch all have limited battery life. Say you are a few hundred nautical miles from nearest land, and you have an electrical fire on board, taking out your motor and electronic systems in the boat (this is not unheard of). You now need to navigate to shore. The paper maps you can read any time you like.

(FYI - the average sailing speed of a wind-powered boat is about 4-5 knots, so about 24 h per 100 nautical miles in a straight line under optimal conditions, which they never are when sailing.)

Paper maps also allow a level of interaction and scale that you simply can't easily get on an electronic device - most paper maps can show you a large area all at once, but a screen is limited by the size of the device, making it hard to get an overall picture of the location and directions needed. Dead-reckoning using analogue devices is only really easy on a paper map too, as you can draw on it, even over large scales, so that you can work out the next steps easily.

Answer 3

To expand a bit on Toby Speight's answer, I want to follow up on this comment of yours:

I agree fully - any time spent dealing with the particular implementations is a distraction from that objective. Yet paper based navigation spends time teaching how to work a protractor, how to measure angles, how to move parallel lines, how to calculate distances with a scale, how to calculate travel durations, how to look up coordinates, etc. Drawing a single line on an electronic map directly gives exact coordinates, distance, heading and duration if speed is given as well.

It is indeed true that learning skills that would only be applicable to a paper map is a waste of time. However boating is a tradition spanning thousands of years, so you can't expect it to change overnight. Knowing things like working a protractor could be taught because:

1. It might be required to get a boating license in your local jurisdiction. No point in skipping this knowledge if you won't pass the exam otherwise.
2. Its easier for the instructor to teach you on paper. They've probably been trained on paper maps and their original instructor was trained on paper maps, so they're not interested in spending time developing an electronic-only curriculum. Keep in mind that waterproof phones/tablets with a 7+ inch display and powerful navigation software only became available in the past few years.
3. Training people this way is cheaper. As mentioned by Toby, giving everyone a printout (or a PDF, in case of remote learning) costs a few cents per lesson. Loaning everyone a particular GPS model or installing particular GPS software on everyone's laptops is a big headache.
4. "We've always done it this way". Captains probably look down on anyone incapable of paper-based navigation, so they would likewise consider their training incomplete if it meant you'd be breaking a tradition spanning several centuries.
5. Paper might still be the way to go in extreme situations. Sure, you might only need a license to sail near the shore on sunny summer days but there are still people sailing all the way from San Francisco to Sydney or from Cape Town to Buenos Aires. Relying on powerbanks is a risky move if you've still got two weeks before reaching shore and your electrical systems fail.
6. You can't avoid it if you plan to sail large vessels (thanks @DaveX). A small motor-powered yacht can stop and turn on a whim so its very easy to avoid obstacles. Meanwhile a large cargo tanker requires a few miles to slowdown from full speed, so the captain has to be very careful to plan ahead to avoid collisions - and while software exists to help with this, they're expected to be able to do it manually if required.

Unless you find a progressive school willing to forego all paper, you have no choice but to complete the training as mandated by the school. It might be illogical, but it is what it is.