No. 18665 is the first to go

In the phase out of paper charts, the NOAA chart of Lake Tahoe will be the first to disappear.

- TIM QUEENEY

An obscure press release from NOAA on February 26, 2021, made an announcement about the availability of a chart in its catalog. Though the chart in question might never be used by ocean sailors, this release from NOAA was a big deal both for the history of US nautical charts and for their future.

The announcement stated that as of August 2021, chart no. 18665 — the NOAA chart for land-locked Lake Tahoe, Calif. — would no longer be available in paper form from NOAA chart dealers. This first phase-out of a paper chart is part of a program that was initially floated by NOAA for public comment in 2017 and then made official in 2019. The “Sunset Plan for Nautical Charts” calls for the complete phase-out of paper charts by 2025 (actually, paper versions of charts will still be available after a fashion; more on that below). The agency’s flagship electronic chart product, the NOAA Electronic Navigational Chart (ENC), will become the mainstay of all charting efforts.