With special permission from Captain Michael Ahart, News Editor for our respected and respectful competitor, “Waterway Guide,” (http://www.waterwayguide.com/) we are very pleased to share with the cruising community his extremely well thought through, insightful editorial on the entire “Magenta Line” issue.
Many thanks Captain Michael. You are a true class act!

Here’s my “short” version, and the gist of my comments to NOAA Coast Survey. I’m trying to get support for a “dashed line” to depict sections that change often or have frequent shoaling issues. This is my personal opinion and does not necessarily match the opinions or policies of Waterway Guide, or its management or other editors.

I think that removing the Magenta Line will cause many more groundings.

A skipper should know better than to blindly follow any single `input’ ‘“ and certainly should follow what the nav aids and the water is telling him/her. I think that skippers treat the line as the `general route’ rather than a specific path — or at least do so after a grounding or two. However, in most sections the Magenta Line correctly depicts the navigable channel as it has been for decades. It also shows an arcing route from nav aid to nav aid where appropriate. A little research in any guidebook or cruiser’s website will alert boaters to the problem spots, and the charts could also depict these problem and shifting areas with a dashed line. (If you were following the Magenta Line on your chart and it changed into a dashed line, wouldn’t you say `hmmm’¦I wonder why it’s dashed here.)

It would be great if every skipper knew exactly what they were doing all of the time, but the ICWs are really the proving grounds for new cruisers ‘“ and the monotony can throw even old salts off their guard. Without the Magenta Line, many skippers will `miss the turn’ — perhaps steering the vessel to a dangerous ocean inlet, or just up the wrong creek’¦one that’s likely not ever surveyed or dredged, and certainly not monitored by the cruising community. Getting stuck far off the beaten path can mean long delays in getting assistance, especially from other cruisers — but also from tow services. (Remember: The markers have those tiny, easy to miss triangles and squares denoting the ICW, but the charts do NOT.)

I am also concerned that the removal of the Magenta Line may lower the already low priority of maintaining many sections of the ICW, especially in an environment of reduced federal and state funds competing with an urgent need for the deepening and maintenance of commercial channels to accommodate `Post-Panamax’ cargo vessels.

Be sure to register your opinion by Dec. 26 with the Coast Survey whether you think the Magenta Line should stay or go.

Also — regardless of your opinion on this topic, it is very important for the boating public, trade groups, businesses, advocacy groups, and municipalities along the waterway to join together to help our representatives understand how much the ICW means to the economies of these towns, states, and the nation. This historical waterway should be maintained for posterity, and should no longer be treated as an ad-hoc project without clear jurisdiction or priority.

Send your comments to NOAA Coast Survey at CoastSurveyCommunications@noaa.gov. Here’s the official notice:
https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/09/26/2013-23440/intracoastal-wate
rway-route-magenta-line-on-noaa-nautical-charts.