Click on a screencast image below to view short video tutorials. Topics range from guide overviews and sample pages to the finer points of using our guide for planning, preparation, and piloting. Bookmark this page to check back as we add new topics and more screencasts!
Understand how to get the most out of our full-color maps and summary tables. Road-atlas-style maps are customized to show items of boating interest such as river towns with services, NOAA weather towers, upcoming locks, and county names for interpreting weather announcements and alerts. We also explain our "visual" table of contents and index.
This screencast previews our new illustrated Chart Guide design. Explore a typical navigation page in the new full color, larger format presentation of Managing the Waterway: Chicago to Mobile (Vol. 1: Chicago, IL to Paducah, KY).
We drill down on the Mile-by-Mile Column, explaining the entries, organization, and content. Details of our consistent style and notations, such as descending bank, miles off the main channel, gage readings for depth surveys, and other piloting information is discussed.
This screencast takes you through the components of an Annotated Chart Screenshot. Learn how to interpret our annotations, what forms the basis of the underlying chart cartography, what e-charting application we use, and how the Annotated Chart Screenshots work in concert with the Mile-by-Mile Column.
One of the unique facets of Managing the Waterway cruising guides is the customized Rolling Header at the top of each navigation page. The Mile-by-Mile Column details every piloting landmark, but the Rolling Header extracts and highlights important safety and timing information to tell you what's most important right now and what’s coming up around the bend.
Our new larger format contains "guides within the guide" (a mile-by-mile piloting guide, an annotated chart guide for the entire 580-mile trip, and a complete preparation and planning guide). Preview the 30,000-word chapter, Managing the Transit, and two sample sections: Locks and Dams and In-Water Hazards. It's the equivalent of a small book and the most complete treatment of the subject available.
Wherever you're cruising, you're probably not a local. But it's never too late to become a semi-local. Pronunciation and regional cruising tips complement stories on the route's fascinating history, folklore, wildlife, and culture. This guide's 182 Interpretive Vignettes are heavily cross-referenced, mating with the Mile-by-Mile Column, Annotated Chart Screenshots, and navigation photos to pull everything together.
Understanding river levels and river gages are a crucial part of the Inland Waterway transit. As such, gage information is presented in the preparation and planning chapter, Mile-by-Mile Column, Annotated Chart Screenshots, and Rolling Header™. We detail how to source and interpret gage data, how to access rivergages.com, and demonstrate how our daily survey work is annotated with that day's relevant gage reading.
This screencast focuses specifically on how lock information is presented. Learn how the different sections of the guide work in concert to prepare you for lockings, including topics such as wicket dams, auxiliary locks, contact information, locking procedures, waiting strategies, and reference navigation photos.
Expand your moorage options with detailed listings for marinas, yacht and boat clubs, town and restaurant docks, commercial tie-ups, federal mooring cells, and lock walls. Complement these with river, towhead island, and wingdam anchorages and you'll have nearly 200 places to safely stay the night. The guide's consistent notation style, specific reference areas, and color icons are fully explained.
What are Screencasts?
A screencast is a narrated digital movie of a computer screen. Follow along as Mark walks you through sample pages from our new illustrated Chicago to Paducah Chart Guide.