A look ahead - Two new forward-looking sonar systems

by David Schmidt, Sail-World Cruising Editor on 3 Apr 2015 On the dark night of November 30, 2014, skipper Chris Nicholson and his Team Vestas Wind made Volvo Ocean Race history when they ploughed into the Cargados Carajos Shoals in the Indian Ocean at 19 knots. The result was an eviscerated Volvo Ocean 65, but-thanks to some solid ex post facto seamanship-the crew was unharmed.

And while the rigors and competitive pressures of the Volvo Ocean Race are far different than the average coastal or bluewater cruise, the simple fact remains that a head-on collision with a rock, a submerged container or even a whale shark are sobre-minded concerns. Fortunately, today’s state-of-the-art marine-electronics technology can help cruising sailors.

Earlier this winter, I was lucky enough to get to sea trial two impressive new forward-looking sonar technologies, Simrad’s ForwardScan transducer, which is designed to work with Simrad’s high-end MFDs, as well as Garmin’s Panoptix system, which plays nicely with Garmin MFDs.

Given that the laws of physics govern all forward-looking sonar systems when it comes to effective range, it’s crucial to understand that both of these systems offer safe working ranges of (ballpark) 500 feet (see system for exact specs). And while the basic idea of the two systems is the same (namely, forward-looking eyes), they are being positioned differently in the market.

Simrad is careful to market their ForwardScan as collision-avoidance technology. This obviously means that at 19 knots, a skipper has almost no reaction time (do the math), but at 5 knots, ForwardScan can unlock the secrets of tight reef passages, rocky shores and unknown waters. The key, of course, is to travel slowly when relying on ForwardScan, and to be ready to react immediately to any obstructions.

Garmin took a different route with their Panoptix system and optimized their algorithms for anglers, allowing them to seek out everything from individual targets to schools of baitfish. And while its graphics are optimized for target separation and detail, the system is also capable of showing upcoming navigational dangers, provided of course that speed is kept soundly in check.

Graphically, both systems are innovative and custom-tailored to their specific objectives. For example, Simrad’s ForwardScan provides both an “ice-cream cone” of safe navigable waters (radiating out from the bow) that transitions from green (safe) to yellow (use caution) to red (danger) that’s overlaid atop a chart, as well as the ability to look at the bottom contours ahead of the bow stem (different screen view). This system made it easy to negotiate skinny water haunts in Florida,without worry about finding the hard.

Garmin’s Panoptix system provides both LiveVu (a real-time, video-like view of the water column) and RealVu 3D (a real-time, three-dimensional scan) sonar imagery (both “Down” and “Forward” view perspectives are available for both RealVu and LiveVu, as well as RealVu 3D Historical, which provides a history of the topography that you have already cruised) that delivers an impressive amount of fish-hunting detail. For example, an individual lure could be seen onscreen…not to mention the pursuant fish that were investigating the scene.

So would either of these technologies have helped Team Vestas Wind on that dark November night? Likely not, because at 19 knots the crew’s reaction time would have been measured in mere seconds, but that certainly doesn’t mean that both of these innovative new products can’t help you to keep your keel off the bricks, provided of course that you keep your speed in check and your eyes wide open.