Colin Jones takes a break from his cutting edge treasure trove of ultra-modern gadgetry to consider the merits of the humble PDA . . .

The Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) sneaked into my boating life a decade ago, when we were still struggling to get reliable communication s on our boat as we travelled down across Biscay to North Spain. Since then, I have owned at least half a dozen of them, each cha nge being forced on me, partly by my condition as a compulsive gadget freak and partly by regular improvements in both hardware and software.

That is the danger. Once you have spent a season being personally, digitally, assisted, going to sea without your electronic valet makes you feel somewhat vulnerable. Though perhaps that should more accurately read as ‘preparing to go to sea’, because one of the PDA’s greatest strengths is as a planning tool.

But what about the iPhone?
Obviously, the question of the moment is ‘Will the iPhone replace the PDA as a boat tool’. As ever, the answer is yes and no. I am lucky enough to have both, but not everybody wishes to be tied to an iPhone contract, costing about £170 as an initial payment, followed by substantial monthly outgoings for a couple of years. The iPhone is an amazing device but some of my friends are already looking at their monthly direct debits in relation to how often they use it as an actual telephone and how much they use it merely for Tetris and Pac-man.

By way of stark contrast, the relative obscurity of the PDA means you can pick up a very high-spec traditional model for a very reasonable price by looking at the factory refurbished machines from a well established company like www.TotalPDA.co.uk. There is now plenty of low cost software on the market too, as people move over to smart phones and the programmer/suppliers rewrite their programs to suit the new machine concepts and operating platforms.

Until now, the choice of system has been Palm or Microsoft Windows Mobile, with the latter much more popular with us because it is clearly the favourite of software designers hoping to sell into the marine market. They have devised some very successful practical projects, especially for passage planning and tidal predictions. So, for the moment, let us assume that the PDA, which we know as a very robust tool, capable of withstanding a great deal more harsh and clumsy treatment than the iPhone, still has a good few years of useful life left.

If you are planning a purchase, a Google search on the letters ‘PDA’ will return 162 milllion possible sources of information. Refining the search with the addition of ‘Marine Use UK’ is far more useful, giving around 50,000 options for comparing models and prices. There are plenty of forums too, which discuss the main considerations relevant to a boater. Before dusting off your credit card, you would do well to pay these some attention.

Cheaper than you think
You cannot expect to match your full expectations in one PDA, so draw up a list with 100 per cent as your ‘must-have’ starting point and begin descending from there until a PDA matches your needs. Once you have it, there are plenty of useful programs but arguably, the pick of the bunch is Neptune Navigation, who are the most regular specialists at the London Boat Show. Proprietors and designers, Les and Sandra Emptage, always show a great deal of patience and good humour explaining their wares to the uninformed so do feel free to approach them and ask questions.

My own favourite, which has served me well for a decade, is Neptune Pocket Tides. This is exactly the same program as used on a full-sized PC, giving the tides for the whole of Europe until 2060. It is £25 very well spent because, in just a few seconds, I can access any port and have both a tidal curve and text info for every hour of the day. In early December, when our next year’s cruise plans were moving from ‘provisional’ to ‘definite’, I could plan which day would give a big high tide, to simplify launching in our drying harbour. Then I set to work calculating the day when we needed a fair tide down the Chenal du Four, off West Brittany, and the timing for negotiating the very troublesome (and often dangerous) entrance to the Gironde, en route to Bordeaux.

The Neptune website (www.neptune-navigation.co.uk) has plenty of info on this and also on PC Pocket Planner (£59.95), which does exactly what the label says by enabling you to plan any passage to take advantage of favourable tidal streams. The software offers the optimum time of departure and thereafter shows your probable track as, say, the tide moves you sideways east or west in a transit across the Channel. There is also scope for inserting and editing waypoints. This is an ingenious program which, even if you are not undertaking an adventure, will still give many hours of pleasure planning your dream cruises from the comfort of your armchair, or to stave off the boredom of yet another two-hour wait at Gatwick. It certainly beats the Hell out of Tetris . . .

Useful contacts
www.totalpda.co.uk
www.neptune-navigation.co.uk