When the chart ends, the guesswork begins - unless you have real-time seabed intelligence. The WASSP W3P multibeam sonar system is changing how explorer yachts approach poorly charted waters, with live 3D mapping deployed from a tender.
Many captains will know the feeling of approaching waters where charts are decades old or, in some cases, non-existent entirely. The depth sounder gives you a number, but it tells you nothing about what's around you. Is there a rock shelf to starboard? A wreck just off the bow? A sudden drop that makes anchoring impossible?
For explorer yachts pushing into the world's most remote cruising grounds, the WASSP W3P multibeam sonar system has become the tool that gives captains peace of mind in poorly charted waters.
The WASSP W3P is a portable, tender-deployed multibeam sonar system that gives yachts the ability to scout the seabed before the mothership commits. Unlike a traditional depth sounder, which measures just one point vertically below the vessel, the WASSP W3P uses 224 beams simultaneously across a 120° swath from port to starboard, capturing the entire underwater landscape in a single sweep and revealing depth contours, underwater features, obstructions and the shape of the seabed in both 2D and 3D.
Read the full article here at Dockwalk
