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Monday, October 15, 2012

Help my prove my kid WRONG?

Help prove my kid WRONG?  Minneys has been a nautical chart agent for the past 40 years.  Because of hi-tech chart plotters interfaced with GPS we note that mariners are not purchasing paper nautical charts.  You pilot your boat as if you were controlling a video game.  I play this game aboard an elegant Seline 62 in Alaska every summer for a couple of weeks.  It's fun, so far has been accurate but I don't trust it.  My skipper always the paper chart nearby and if a power failure occurs we are ready to go back to "old school" and safely guide our vessel.  Things have also changed with NOAA, Uncle Sam's chart maker and distributor.  They've put us all quotas, if we don't make our quotas, we get dumped and     you will no longer have a convenient place to pick the latest chart you need.  My son Josh says, "dad, you're on a sinking ship, dump NOAA and your chart cabinets and use the space for something else." I think Josh is wrong and just purchased 500 up to date charts that will get your from San Diego to Seattle and all the islands and ports in between.  I just checked Amazon.com and note that my charts are priced one cent above theirs.  I'm going work hard for one year to continue being your "go to" place for charts.  It's up to you?  If you don't want them we'll phase them out.  Pictured is the most up to date chart of our lovely Newport Harbor.  I recently used it to correct my compass by running between points in the turning basin.  Several restaurants have purchased then to frame and used as wall decor.  The upscale clothing store Vineyard Vines in Fashion Island has blown this chart up to "monster size" and it's the first thing you see when you enter their elegant and interesting store.  The little booklet pictured is a great story about Santa Cruz island, written by the manager of the ranch.  It's a $12.95 value and is out of print.  To kick off my chart sales and prove Josh wrong, I'm offering the Santa Cruz island booklet and Newport Harbor chart for a total of $15.00.  P.S.  My brother Owen is losing his battle with cancer.  If anyone would like to say goodbye, call the store and I'll take a message from you to him........

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