January 05, 2018
By Florida Sportsman Editor
$99 Navionics Credit for Boaters Who #ReMapSouthFL
What are you seeing on South Florida waterways in the wake of Hurricane Irma?
One of the biggest charting companies, Navionics, wants to know—and they're prepared to reward you with free chart updates in 2018 if you'll help with the company's unique, group-sourced sonar-logging initiative.
What Navionics will be doing is integrating sonar records of recreational boaters into master files accounting for shifting bars, shoaling, shoreline erosion and other changes from and following the September landfall of Hurricane Irma. Participating boaters need only visit www.navionics.com/usa/lp/remap-south-florida to get started. Beginning January 19, 2018, the website will accept uploads from your sonar records via the data-storage card compatible with your brand of plotter/sonar (owners of units running Navionics charting software can use the Navionics card itself.) Boaters with Simrad or Lowrance equipment and wifi connection to the SonarChart live app can upload sonar data straight off the boat! After uploading, take a screen shot of your uploads, send it to irma@navionics.com before Feb. 20, 2018, and you'll receive one year of free daily updates.
Participants will also be encouraged to mark debris areas using the Community Edits tool of the Navionics Boating app, allowing mariners to be aware of potential hazards—sunken boats, downed markers, roofing materials or other debris. Navionics will share the debris locations with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who will then have it physically removed.
Navionics National Sales Manager Paul Michele, an avid South Florida boater himself, anticipates an April 1 release of all-new chart updates taking into account the #ReMapSouthFL data. All boaters using Navionics products will have the ability to download these updates and integrate them into Navionics charts; normally such an update would cost $99… but for ReMapSouthFL volunteers, it'll be free, as will any subsequent updates through the end of 2018.
Volunteers will also be entered into a drawing for a variety of boating-related giveaways, donated by many of the event partners. Partners with Navionics #ReMapSouthFL include Costa Del Mar, The Florida Keys and Key West tourism council, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Hawks Cay Resort, Hell's Bay Boatworks, the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention and Visitors Bureau, Okuma, Power Pole, Sea Tow, West Marine, Yamaha, Yeti Coolers, and Yo-Zuri.
Paul Michele will host an online tutorial on the initiative January 17 at 7 p.m. EST. For details and registration, click here: https://navionics.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rPxbbHPFRwWfy-GUWWue8w
