Collisions and groundings have traditionally cost yacht owners millions of pounds in damages. Of course, being able to spot an obstacle before a dangerous situation occurs is what every captain strives for. Conventional echo sounders only tell you the depth of the water you are currently in. In order to anticipate the true waters, you are about to enter you require forward-looking sonar.

We pit 2D against 3D to understand what we can expect from different Forward Looking Sonars. With more and more exploration yachts choosing to operate in challenging environments, the risk of collision with poorly charted obstacles, wrongly placed obstacles (due to GPS malfunctions), or transient obstacles such as ice and submerged shipping containers, increases significantly. Groundings with large underwater structures such as rocks, reefs, sandbanks and shoals are unfortunately significant risks. And the annual costs of groundings and collisions run up into the billions every year.