Course up or N up. Chart Orientation.

Birdsnest

Well-Known Member
Im a course up fella.

I can never understand why anyone would run N up with the exception of trolling where the screen direction on many units bounces all over the place which is annoying. But I know many that do run N up only.
I really like radar overlay running course up. Is there any other way?
 
Back in the olden days, I spent hundreds of hours running on radar at night or in fog at about 9 knots on course up before the days of GPS. So course up just seems natural for me.
 
Back in the olden days, I spent hundreds of hours running on radar at night or in fog at about 9 knots on course up before the days of GPS. So course up just seems natural for me.
Same here. So how does north up work with radar overlay?
 
North up for sure on my gps; my boat isnt fancy enough for radar. :p

Fished the bank on a buddys boat who prefers course up, and my tiny brain had a hard time keeping track of our position. It felt like I was taking an iq test.
 
Radar overlay shows the radar image in relation to whatever orientation you have on your plotter. Makes no difference North up or course up because it adapts to what you have set.
 
I'm a course up guy. Tried running North up, but it was usually going the wrong direction.
 
I'm a course up guy. Tried running North up, but it was usually going the wrong direction.
Ya like 75% of the time. Don't understand why anyone would run North up, why wouldn't you want to see rocks/ land to the same side of the boat on the plotter as they are in reality?
 
I believe Chris Columbus used the course up configuration on his Lowrance HDS when he set sail for India! ;)

I use north up because its how I would read a chart if you slapped it down on the table in front of me. It also seems more intuitive, because the boat is the object thats changing direction, not the island-shaped rocks that im trying to avoid.
 
A smart man told me once that "course up" navigators are micro- managers and "north ups" can see the big picture. There you have it!
Seems to me that course up is the egocentric perspective.
 
North up all the way.
That way charts, radar and ECDIS or computer programs are all telling you the same thing from the same perspective.
Takes some guys a bit to get used to it, but once you do there's no going back.
Of course you have to have gyro or Satelite compass hooked up to your radar, otherwise it's heads up (many don't recommend course up, but some may be saying course up when they mean heads up)
Having gps AND gyro/satellite compass input into your radar allows you to see your course made good vrs course steered which is very helpful as well.
 
North up.
Relative motion/true motion trails etc. Is debatable operators preference on the higher end gear. Head up/course up initially seems like the way to go.... It isn't.
North up is how paper charts looks, how ECS/ECDIS "should" look, and it just makes sense for operators.
Glance at heading device (gyro/sat) quick mental math +\- to get offset and all is good.
My favourite Captain used to come up to wheelhouse (when weather wasn't a concern) and immediately put all 4 radars on standby. "Today we will be navigating by advanced technology.....@&$?& eyeballs!"
 
Im not sure about North up. When Im doing 30 kn I like my course corrections/reaction time to be instant and simple. When traveling in fog using radar I want it to be as simple as can be to make instant choices. I don't look at paper charts often but when I do I spin it around on the table and if Im looking at it with a few "North uppers" i get to have any other side of the table to myself while the 3 North uppers are all scrunched together on the south side of the map. lol
I train people to run boats using GPS and radar and its my boat which deserves the best odds of not being damaged. North up is just confusing for beginners where collision(rocks/bottom/other boats) avoidance is the priority. We also are not navigating new areas so the routs are familiar.
I have friends that are both tug captains and guides that use north up. Im not nocking them I'm just splitting hairs chewen the fat on the topic.
 
Im not sure about North up. When Im doing 30 kn I like my course corrections/reaction time to be instant and simple. When traveling in fog using radar I want it to be as simple as can be to make instant choices. I don't look at paper charts often but when I do I spin it around on the table and if Im looking at it with a few "North uppers" i get to have any other side of the table to myself while the 3 North uppers are all scrunched together on the south side of the map. lol
I train people to run boats using GPS and radar and its my boat which deserves the best odds of not being damaged. North up is just confusing for beginners where collision(rocks/bottom/other boats) avoidance is the priority. We also are not navigating new areas so the routs are familiar.
I have friends that are both tug captains and guides that use north up. Im not nocking them I'm just splitting hairs chewen the fat on the topic.
I run 2 units and use north up on my auxiliary unit. On my primary unit I use course for high speed running and then change to north up for fishing because the map jumps around too much at slow speeds . I think teaching your self to use north up is very important for safety.
 
For discussion sake, how is N up safer?
I feel it's a more realistic represention of the chart and updates better.
I know most of the commercial operators I know only use north up. I've never asked them why.
It's whatever you get used to I guess.
 
North up always. Learned to read charts 40 years ago and it just seems natural to think about your heading based on the global perspective. I also think that if you are relying on "course up" to make quick decisions on course, speed and heading you are spending too much time looking at your video game and not enough time looking out the windshield.
 
North up always.

I think you may find an age difference in the views here. In the old days every chart was paper. All printed charts are North up. When GPS started to appear about 25 years ago for recreational boats even the charts you purchase had very poor detail on the electronic charts. You had to compare your paper charts to your on screen position if you wanted to know about wash rocks etc. The old electronic maps only showed the larger islands and your position. So you had to run your unit with a North up orientation to be able to compare positions on a paper chart. That was the way I learned to run my units, and I've just stuck with that since my first Garmin over 25 years ago.
 
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I think a lot depends on your setup. If you can display a leader and history on your vessel, it's way easier when using North up to orient yourself, if you are having problems. I can see where if you just use a little boat symbol to do it, it takes some getting used to. Also it's just a matter of what you are used to. I have always used North up because that is how I learned and I find it easier to go back and forth from a chart.
 
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