There is not a real rule as to what you should use, it is what you feel comfortable with as you can see from the posts above. I in fact use use all three, north up, head up and course up. I tend to use north up in unformilular waters, head up when navigating channels and beacons and course up when racing. A lot of people have trouble with orientation and need the map to be orientated in the direction they are facing (head up). I had a boat where you had to sit and face the rear of the boat to read the plotter and it was amazing how people could not come to grips with it because they were not facing forward. I think most people like myself who did a lot of navigation prior to GPS and plotters will use North up, but people who are newer to naviigation will use head up as this is what they are see when driving cars.

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Jode5 said..
I in fact use use all three, north up, head up and course up.

What is the difference between head up and course up??

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cisco said..

Jode5 said..
I in fact use use all three, north up, head up and course up.

What is the difference between head up and course up??

For my Raymarine, it depends on what information the plotter has at the time. Course up can be intended course (origin to destination), autopilot heading, bearing to waypoint or instantaneous heading; prioritised in that order. If it's referencing heading, it's horrible and rotates the chart about heaps. Heading up is stabilised within 10 degrees and there is a course vector anyway which is good for laylines when racing around the cans.

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cisco said..

Jode5 said..
I in fact use use all three, north up, head up and course up.

What is the difference between head up and course up??

Cousrse up, is when you have a course in you plotter to a waypoint and that course shows up.

Head up, is the current heading of the boat up.

GPS and RADAR both heading up

I prefer North up. Only because on a small yacht bobbing and slewing around heading up would be flicking around every second.
On larger vessels and aircraft i can see why heading up would be sensible.

I know when you speak about aircraft instruments your clearly speaking about the pilots controls.
When your a mere passenger and your shown your position on the "seat back infront of you" it's north up.

I'm north up on my navionics and also north up when I use a street directory. (I still use paper street directories)