The new RCCPF guide to Atlantic Spain and Portugal.

New 8th edition released in 2019

Before I say anything about the book, I must shout out that it comes with a free one-year subscription to the full set of electronic charts for the region covered by the book. The RCCPF has released a new app for iPhone and Android for the display of their charts, and it's pretty interesting. This is a game-changer for an RCCPF pilot book that costs £45.

The guide covers the region from Cabo Ortegal to Gibraltar and is the essential companion for yachts making passages from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean or onwards to the Canaries before an Atlantic crossing. It is also vital for yachts crossing the Atlantic from the Americas and a comprehensive cruising companion for anyone availing of the delightful cruising grounds found here.

'Atlantic Spain and Portugal' is the classic guide to this varied coast which includes the Rias of Galicia, the estuaries of the Douro and Tejo with Lisbon, the Algarve and the coast of Andalucia down to Gibraltar. It's one of those books that you refer to daily while underway. With more yachts from Europe escaping to coastal Atlantic regions each year, and with editions in Spanish and French, this book will remain a useful onboard resource for years to come.

It is a typical pilot book with information about the anchorages and marinas, but little about the shoreside activities. As happens with any book that has detailed information, it goes out of date as soon as it's in print. For this reason, a free supplement is available online twice a year with updated information. The book has fallen prey to the dreaded predictive text and spellchecker monster with errors introduced in words like 'chartered' instead of 'charted'. We took these in stride given the volume of useful information. It would be helpful if certain relevant information were consistently presented. For example, under communications, the book often lists email addresses and phone numbers and sometimes lists VHF station for hailing. Sometimes the VHF appears only in the text under the marina as opposed to in the communications section. After 8 editions, one would expect things like that to have been ironed out.

There are many new photos and most of the plans incorporate changes accumulated over the four years or so since the last edition was published in 2015, although not as much has changed in the regional infrastructure over that period. And as of the 20th of June 2019, the new 8th edition of this pilot published earlier in 2019 is now available for download as a pdf eBook from the Google Play store. You can download it here. It is also available in Spanish and French.

Screen grab of the new Imray app

Significantly, the book, as mentioned above, includes a voucher to download Imray Chart set ID40 for the Imray Navigator app. Once you download the app from Google Play and set up an account in the app, you'll have to navigate to subscriptions in the app to select the charts to download. Be warned, the two sets of charts contain over 1 GB of data and took me over an hour to download over WiFi and several failed attempts with 4G. Each collection of Imray charts for the app costs £22.99 for a one-year subscription. 

It's not a perfect world though. Although the digital maps appear to be faithful to the paper ones, there is a glitch in the zoom level when moving between maps. Essentially, the two sets of raster charts in the two digital downloads for the region don't match up exactly. This often happens with paper charts, but it is not expected nor does it inspire confidence with the digital ones. Of course, there are major warnings about not using the charts for navigation, but they are still useful as a backup and to have along in the dinghy. The very first version of their app was launched June 1 so glitches are to be expected.

Imray noted on Google Play, "The charts in the app do indeed match the paper charts. Our paper chart coverage is drawn at scales most pertinent to the coverage (rather than being seamless across a whole zoom level), which is why you get the jumps in the app. Seamless coverage for the app is being worked on for future versions."

 They have plans for expansion including:

- Tracking
- Route planning
- Waypoints
- Full tidal predictions when used in conjunction with Imray’s Tides Planner app, sharing across devices
- Content from Imray pilot books including marina and anchorage details and sailing directions.
- AIS and NMEA integration

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Author: Henry Buchanan

A4 hardcover full colour

Edition: 8th 2019
ISBN: 9781846239649
£45.00
Publisher
Imray, Laurie, Norie and Wilson Ltd
Published May 4, 2019
Pages: 360

Other language editions:  

Digital edition:
ISBN
9781846239663

£36.73

Note: The 7th edition was on sale from Bluewater Books and Charts in the US on 23/06/19 for $83.95 (~£66), €57 on Viking Marine and on amazon.co.uk for £38.85 second-hand, so at £45 with the free software, the 8th edition is a 'no brainer' bargain.

You can find the link to amazon.com or amazon.co.uk to order your copy on this page. 

DOB