Module 7 - Charts & Publications
Yachtmaster Offshore Standard: Information Status
What you will learn
Build an auditable chart-and-publication status record, identify every unresolved information gap and keep the route closed until the evidence supports release.
Yachtmaster-level chart use is an information-control task. A route is not defensible merely because one chart is the latest edition or one plotter says it updated successfully; coverage, amendments, warnings, local directions, datums, settings and fallback all need a named status.
The RYA Yachtmaster Offshore examination page requires a full up-to-date set of charts and navigational publications on the examination vessel and assesses navigation and skippering. The RYA theory scope includes almanacs and ADMIRALTY publications. This lesson can rehearse the information discipline behind those requirements, but it cannot demonstrate practical chart use, pilotage, equipment fluency or command competence.
Separate product status from passage status. Product status asks whether the exact chart, cell or publication has suitable coverage, the correct edition or licence, all applicable amendments and a usable backup. Passage status asks whether current warnings, Temporary and Preliminary notices, local directions, weather, tides and observed conditions have been applied to this route and time. A fully corrected chart can still sit inside an unsafe or incomplete passage plan.
Use a status record another navigator can audit. For each source, name the product and coverage, edition or data baseline, last applied update, outstanding T&P items, warning or local-information check, limitations, time checked, person responsible and action taken. A tick without those details hides the very gap the record is meant to expose.
Digital agreement is not automatically independent. Two displays can share one chart service, update account, route file, GNSS, gateway or power path. The RYA currently identifies paper charts as the viable official chart source for most leisure craft because a suitable approved digital system is not generally available. Useful digital data still needs provider, date, coverage, scale, update-result and failure-path checks.
All weeks, products and routes below are fictional revision data. Apply the actual notices, product instructions, harbour directions, warnings, legal duties and vessel procedures for a real passage.
Worked example
On Thursday of fictional Week 32, the latest-edition paper approach chart is corrected only through Week 28. The plotter opens normally and shows a Week 31 installation, but the crew cannot evidence the chart-data licence, provider coverage or successful update report. Current harbour notices have not been checked.
- 1Paper gap: Weeks 29, 30, 31 and 32 are unresolved. Search the official NM record by chart number and account for applicable permanent, Temporary and Preliminary items; also check whether a new edition has superseded the baseline.
- 2Warning gap: check the current route- and time-relevant navigational warnings and local or harbour notices. A chart correction record does not prove those sources were reviewed.
- 3Digital gap: identify the chart provider and coverage, licence or service status, data date, installed update result, scale warnings and the backup that survives a credible shared failure.
- 4Record the outcome source by source, including unresolved items and the action needed. Do not convert an unknown status into a green tick.
- 5Keep the affected route closed until every safety-relevant gap is resolved or a different route and information set is shown to be suitable.
Sense check: A latest-edition chart corrected through Week 28 is not current in Week 32 merely because it looks clean, and a functioning plotter is not evidence that its chart service is valid or complete.
| Status field | Evidence to record | Route-release question |
|---|---|---|
| Product and coverage | Chart/cell/publication identifier and geographic limits | Does it cover the route, alternatives and margins? |
| Baseline | Edition, publication date, data package or licence | Is it the correct current baseline for this product? |
| Subsequent updates | Applied weeks/packages plus live T&P status | Can every applicable update since the baseline be accounted for? |
| Current information | Warnings, local notices, harbour directions, tides and weather | Has the route been checked for this place and time? |
| Limits and fallback | Datum, scale, source quality, settings and independent backup | What failure or uncertainty closes the route? |
Run a two-person information release
The skipper has twenty minutes before the departure briefing and the navigator says the portfolio is ‘basically current’.
1. Inventory
List the exact chart, cell and publication products needed for the route, alternatives and pilotage rather than checking a generic folder.
2. Verify
One person establishes edition, licence, update and coverage status; another checks current warnings, T&P information and local directions against the route and time.
3. Challenge
Cross-check shared digital dependencies, datums, display scale and the fallback. Treat unknowns as open actions, not reassurance.
4. Release or close
Brief the resolved status and any operating limits. If a safety-relevant gap remains, change the route, delay or obtain the missing information before departure.
Sense check: The final record should let a relieving navigator reconstruct what was checked, when, from which source and what remains prohibited.
Common mistake or limitation
- Latest edition is a baseline, not proof that subsequent amendments and live information have been resolved.
- A correction log records work done; it does not prove the correct chart number, new edition, T&P list, warning or local source was checked.
- A successful app or firmware update does not prove that every chart data set, licence and geographic package is current.
- Several displays are not independent when they share chart data, update service, route, sensor, gateway or power dependencies.
Recap
- Separate product currency from route-and-time currency.
- Record evidence, limitations, responsible person, time and action for each source.
- Treat unknown status as an open safety action, not as a probable pass.
- Release the route only when the information set and fallback are demonstrably suitable.
Optional quick check
Section 9 of 10
In fictional Week 32, a latest-edition paper chart is corrected only through Week 28 and the plotter's chart-data status cannot be evidenced. What is the strongest decision?
Sources and factual review
Reviewed 20 August 2026 - Compass Revision editorial review.
- RYA Yachtmaster Offshore examination scope
- RYA Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore Theory course
- RYA Digital First: The Rise Of eNavigation
- MCA MGN 610 Amendment 1 — navigation and voyage planning
- MCA MGN 379 Amendment 1 — electronic navigational aids
- ADMIRALTY Notices to Mariners and chart-number search
- ADMIRALTY Annual Summary of Notices to Mariners
Continue studying Charts & Publications
This public lesson is part of Revision Module 7. Full revision access adds the guided Learn, Practise and Test flow, flashcards and revision progress.