The classic How to Read a Nautical Chart explains every aspect of electronic and paper nautical charts: how a chart is assembled, how to gauge the accuracy of chart data, how to read charts created by other governments, how to use information such as scale, projection technique and datum that every chart contains; how not to get fooled or run aground by overzooming. Nigel Calder teaches you how to squeeze every ounce of information out of a nautical chart (on your GPS, chartplotter, or nav station) and understand the limits of accuracy for all charts, paper and electronic, raster and vector.

This much-awaited second edition addresses the changes in the world of electronic charting, integrated onboard navigation systems, as well as radar overlays and AIS and their interfacing with charts. A new chapter on the Wiki Revolution explores the mechanisms allowing you to incorporate user-generated content into navigational products and share this content with others―harnessing a user-base never before possible. Calder also explores how 3D-technology and real-time depth and weather information is creating interactive charting capacities that are fundamentally changing how we navigate. Calder’s unique, practical insights will help you to navigate safely for years to come.

A Cruising Guide to Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands has earned an outstanding reputation for the accuracy of its piloting instructions, the clarity of its writing, and the high quality of its information. This second edition includes color photos and nautical chart segments throughout, as well as:

Approaches and anchorages for hundreds of bays, harbors, and inlets―many with annotated charts
• Weather, tides, currents, and commercial traffic patterns
• Local history and attractions
• 240 full-color photos
• 75 color chartlets
• Larger size and lay-flat binding for ease of use

With at-a-glance ratings of every harbor and anchorage, A Cruising Guide to Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands is the definitive resource for Pacific Northwest cruising.

“Everything a yachtsman’s pilot ought to be: shipshape and workmanlike in its approach, unusually well written, very thoughtfully researched.”―Jonathan Raban, bestselling author, Waxwings: A Novel and Passage to Juneau

“All the necessary nuts and bolts about navigating local waters is found in A Cruising Guide to Puget Sound. . . . A welcome addition to the library of any Puget Sound sail- or powerboat owner.”―Seattle Times

“An elegant, beautiful book. . . . For even those few boaters who think they know all Puget Sound has to offer, this invaluable reference guide will introduce them to hundreds of new places yet to explore.”―48° North

“So complete that veteran cruisers will discover cruising grounds they didn’t know existed or didn’t consider navigable.”―SAIL

“An encyclopedic sailing guide to area waters, written with exhaustive first-hand research to almost every cove and inlet, and complemented with a remarkable series of maps, charts, and pictures.”―Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Well written and full of tantalizing places.”―WoodenBoat

“A keeper for my ‘to take cruising’ box.”―Sailing

“A monumental book that gives minute details on every bay, waterway, and stretch of navigable salt water from Olympia to Port Angeles, including the San Juan Islands. It does an excellent job of explaining navigational hazards and anchoring peculiarities at each point along the way.”―Bellingham Herald