Hi Mark,

...but simply trying to point out the value of paper in terms of initial route planning, or the ability to maintain a better situational awareness of the Bigger Picture by something as simple as keeping a rudimentary plot while underway...

Undoubtedly, there are many different ways this grounding could have been avoided... But seems to me one of the simplest, would have involved the use of a SINGLE paper chart - namely, the British Admiralty chart of the Indian Ocean Western Part, which clearly shows the island they basically ran into. If they had simply looked over the route of Leg 2 on that chart pre-departure in Cape Town, or enroute, they surely would have noticed Cocos Island and that lighthouse charted in the waters they might be sailing through... Then, that feature could have been pinned as a potential hazard on their e-charts in the computer worthy of closer investigation, or had an Exclusion/Danger Box drawn around it, as one of the videos shown was done aboard ABU DHABI... Or, if they had simply been doing something as elementary and Old-Fashioned as plotting their noon-to-noon runs (or, at the sort of speeds and distance they're sailing, perhaps every 12 hours or so), by noon of that fateful day, they most certainly would have noticed that feature marked on the chart sitting a quarter of an inch or so directly ahead of their noon position, no?

Of course, the same thing can be achieved electronically, in some fashion... I simply think - at least for me - there is no substitute for the clarity of a full size paper chart spread out before you to get the big picture AT A GLANCE, without having to resort to 'flying the route' at varying zoom levels and scales... Again, I'm just trying to describe what works best for me, others' mileage may vary, naturally...

best regards,

Jon