Here is something for technoweenies like me .
Over the years of my involvement with sailing ,I have seen things come and go .
It seems I started sailing with the astrolabe (early sextant ) ,I learned to navigate with a sextant both coastwise and offshore then came Satnav and then the GPS .
With the advent of the GPS came the real cool stuff NAVIGATIONAL SOFTWARE .
Now to put you in the picture ,I built my first computer ,a binary computer that flashed lights with a simple program you had to compile .
Well back to the nav software , the first bit of real performance nav software that
I was exposed to was Mac sea (yes maxsea was initially written for the mac computers) a package that ran on a Powerbook 190 , and used on race winning boats like the 94 Whitbread winner Yamaha . This was the hot ticket back then and if it where just race results that prove the package then it was a winner .
With more exposure to these packages came other programs that where trying for their day on the winners podium .Deckman for Windows by Graham Wynn and Kiwitech by the boys down on the bottom of the world where the next packages to be available , then the french continued to develop Maxsea but now under the windows format . Suddenly the big electronics manufacturers started taking note and offered to get involved .Maxsea with Furuno , DFW with Simrad/B&G and Kiwitech with Raytheon ,now renamed raytech RNS .
Now for those that are unaware these software packages do all kinds of trick things ,no they dont clean or pay the bills .
They integrate instruments , electronics with performance figures gotten from the boat designer and weather files from the internet and throw out info on what course to steer and what speed the boat should be going according to the designer .

I am sure some of you reading this will say , where do I get this software ?
You guys need to slow down ,because this is just the top of the iceberg . Firstly is your electronics and instruments correctly calibrated ? Remember if your data going in is BS the data the software produces will be BS multiplied .So the fun begins to calibrate the electronics accurately ,ideal conditions , right wind range ,same trimming on both tacks ,on and on and on........... .thats even before switching the computer on .
Plug in the serial or USB plug from the electronics and turn the computer on ?????
holy smoke , the computer is possessed the pointer is opening all kinds of windows , what the???
Switch off the instruments then go into the system hardware panel and disable that microsoft ps mouse .(this does not happen with a MAC) . Next time switch the computer on first will you .

If you get through all of this you are a little closer to Zen .
Now you need to try configure the software , hamburgers at 10 ,.........
And now how do I get the weather in here ? Open the hatch !
Are we there yet?

Back on a serious note .
After all the time I have lost configuring systems for clients and playing with all the different packages , one stands out from the rest ,with a lean package of tools integrated to do an awesome job of furthering your knowledge about where ,when , who and how and that is Expedition .

I watched from the sidelines as the creator of Expedition ,Nick White slowly worked his magic to produce a package that works great from the start .
Nick developed Expedition for the 2001 Volvo round the world race when he could not find a package to do what he wanted . Over the years since the first edition Nick has continued to develop the package into one used by a lot of the top race boats in all the different disciplines from America's Cup to the smallest of campaigns and Nick has become a sort after navigator ..He continues to incorporate new features into the software between sailing jobs and works with all his customers to add features they need . Talk is that he would never sell the package to some big concern ,so if you are looking to spend some money on a good package , it would be best spent on Expedition and supporting Nick in his endeavor to produce a great package.