NAVIGATION COURSES
WN - Weekend Navigator
This seminar is designed to introduce the student to nautical navigation which will include most of the major electronic navigation devices. This is not considered to be a basic navigation course. It includes enough navigational knowledge to understand the operation of these navigational devices.
The class is designed for five sessions with two hour classes, but the time-frame has shown to be more like 15 to 20 hours for all 5 lessons.
The Weekend Navigator textbook (WN) devotes much attention to the “big picture” on how the Global
Positioning System (GPS) interrelates with the traditional navigation skills using charts. This may be difficult to understand when the reader has no prior experience with either navigation principals or GPS.
Therefore, this course deviates from the book outline, and presents charting and dead reckoning
skills separately. Discussions on GPS and other devices are deferred until the student is familiar with basic navigational terms.
YES there is HOMEWORK and YES there is a bit of MATH, but we try to keep it simple, easy to understand and you will have lots of personal one-on-one time with an instructor during the mentoring portions to get yourself in a very comfortable position to succeed!
We will furnish some material such as the Text Book, A Student Guide and 3 Training Charts. You will also need Charting Tools and for those who do not want to go out and purchase them, we can possibly make arrangements with a local Flotilla for you to borrow some for the course.
TOPICS COVERED include:
- Reading A Chart, Marking a Chart, Plotting, Fixes, etc.
- Weather, Tides, Currents and other things affecting Navigation
- Electronics for Navigation, Charting and other electronics such as Auto-Pilot, etc.
- Communications as it relates to Navigation
- Rules of the Road (Laws, Rules, Regulations, both US & International), Sounds, Lights, etc.
- and more!