Public Boating Courses - Cape Fear Sail & Power Squadron

Public Boating Courses

Your source for world-class boating education For Boaters, By Boaters^TM. A variety of public boating courses are offered by the Cape Fear Sail & Power Squadron.

Start with America's Boating Course^® which covers the basics of boating and meets the certification requirements in North Carolina for those under age 26. Then continue with the following:

Educational Offerings

(Click on each in the table below for more USPS information)

(Continue scrolling down for current local offerings)
These should be taken in sequence:	These may be taken at any time:
America's Boating Course^®	Marine Communications Systems
Boat Handling	Marine Electrical Systems
Piloting	Engine Maintenance
Advanced Piloting	Weather
Offshore Navigation	Sail
Navigation	Cruise Planning
Electronic Navigation	Instructor Development

Course Description
Advanced Piloting: Member cost: $65.00 - Non-member cost: $85.00 Location: Cape Fear Community College Date and Time: 21 January - 24 March. 6:30pm - 8:30pm Advanced Piloting Course We are pleased to announce that several of our members have recently successfully completed the Piloting class so we will be offering an Advanced Piloting Class. If you have completed piloting with this group or in an earlier class, we hope you will join us for this next step in developing your navigation skills. Advanced Piloting is the second course in the sequence of the United States Power Squadrons^® courses on navigation. It continues to build coastal and inland navigation skills, allowing the student to take on more challenging conditions like unfamiliar waters, limited visibility, and extended cruises. GPS is embraced as a primary navigation tool while adding radar, chart plotters, and other electronic navigation tools. As with Piloting, the course includes many in-class exercises, advancing the student’s skills through hands-on practice and learning. Ten classes of 2 hours each normally are scheduled for presentation of this course. In addition the students have seven days to complete the open book exam. Topics include: Review of skills learned in Piloting Advanced positioning techniques such as advancing a line of position Other electronics: radar, depth sounders, autopilots, chartplotters, laptop computer software, etc. Hazard avoidance techniques using electronics (e.g., “keep out” zones in GPS) Collision avoidance using radar and GPS Working with tides: clearances, depth, effects of current Piloting with wind and currents The “Seaman’s Eye” – simple skills for checking that one is on course Schedule: 21 January - 24 March. Classes will start at 6:30pm and will generally run two hours. Cost: $65 for members and $10 for spouse/partner; $85 for non-members and $30 for spouse/partner (Assumes you have a copy of the Weekend Navigator, the plotting tool and a set of dividers from the previous classes.) Classroom: Union Station Building Cape Fear Community College - free campus parking. Piloting is a prerequisite to this course REGISTER HERE If you have questions or need more information, please contact Lt/C Ned Rhodes, SN, SEO at educationofficer@capefearsailandpowersquadron.org Photos will be taken at these events for publication in the Foghorn and Squadron website. If you do not wish to have your photo taken, please sign the Opt-Out sheet at this class.
America's Boating Course: - cost: $85.00 Location: Cape Fear Community College Date and Time: ABC 29 Feb, Local Knowledge & On the Water 1 Mar America’s Boating Course^® The Cape Fear Sail & Power Squadron is proudly offering the very best in safe boating education with their boating course which will be offered at the Cape Fear Community College. The course is centered around the 8 hour America’s Boating Course^® offered on a single Saturday (8:00am – 4:30pm). This class is NASBLA approved and USCG recognized and will satisfy NC safe boating requirements for anyone under 26 years of age. For new boaters or boaters new to the Cape Fear coastal area we have expanded the program to include our exclusive “Local Knowledge” combined with our 3.5 hour "On-the-Water" teaching cruise on the following Sunday (free parking on the streets of Wilmington). We'll address the challenges and complexities of boating in our local coastal environment where we'll "tie" everything together. Topics include: Required Safety Equipment Navigation Rules & Aids Finding Your Way Marlinspike (knots) Trailering Anchoring Communications Afloat Lights and Sound Signals Schedule: 29 February, 2020 – ABC Classroom Cape Fear Community College 8:00am – 4:30pm 1 March, 2020 – Local Knowledge & On-the-Water Cruise 8:00am - 11:30pm Cost: $85 (additional family members living in the same household can share the textbook at the discounted price of $50 each.) Cape Fear Community College, Union Station Building - free campus parking. REGISTER HERE If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Lt/C Ned Rhodes, SN SEO at educationofficer@capefearsailandpowersquadron.org Photos will be taken at these events for publication in the Foghorn and Squadron website. If you do not wish to have your photo taken, please sign the Opt-Out sheet at this class.
Weather Course: Member cost: $65.00 - Non-member cost: $90.00 Location: Cape Fear Community College Date and Time: 29 April - 17 June, 6:30-8:30pm Weather Course Even the most experienced Captain will tell you that boating is always dependent on the weather. This course provides a basic understanding of atmospheric stability; forming the foundation of how weather systems build, move and interact with one another. You will learn how and why weather patterns circulate on earth, the effects of the atmosphere, oceans, air and land masses, wind pressure, ocean currents, jet stream, water, humidity, fog, clouds, and precipitation. The level of information about our earth’s weather is guaranteed to give you a new-found appreciation and understanding of how daily weather can help or hinder your boating experience. You will get hands on training on how to predict anticipated weather along with insights into automated tools that every boater or weather enthusiast will find extremely useful. This course will benefit the most seasoned mariner as well as those to who never intend to venture out into the water but admire what “Mother Nature” can produce. Each student will receive: United States Power Squadrons^® Weather Textbook - an explanatory text with full color photographs and drawings covering weather in the United States and its coastal and inland waters Set of 3 millibar charts – to introduce weather forecasting and weather station symbology NOAA’s Sky Watcher Chart - a reference identifying all of the cloud types – which serves as one tool to help identify approaching weather Schedule: 4/29, 5/6, 5/13, 5/20, 5/27, 6/3, 6/10, 6/17, 6:30pm - 8:30pm Cost: $65 members (additional family members living in the same household can share the textbook for an addtional $10) $90 non-members (addtional family memgers living in the same household can share the textbook for an additional $25) Cape Fear Community College, Union Station Building - free campus parking. REGISTER HERE If you have any addional questions or need additional information, please contact P/Lt/C Rick Sorrenti, AP for questions: ricksorrenti@outlook.com Photos will be taken at these events for publication in the Foghorn and Squadron website. If you do not wish to have your photo taken, please sign the Opt-Out sheet at this class.
America's Boating Course: - cost: $85.00 Location: Cape Fear Community College Date and Time: ABC 16 May, Local Knowledge & On the Water 17 May America’s Boating Course^® The Cape Fear Sail & Power Squadron is proudly offering the very best in safe boating education with their boating course which will be offered at the Cape Fear Community College. The course is centered around the 8 hour America’s Boating Course^® offered on a single Saturday (8:00am – 4:30pm). This class is NASBLA approved and USCG recognized and will satisfy NC safe boating requirements for anyone under 26 years of age. For new boaters or boaters new to the Cape Fear coastal area we have expanded the program to include our exclusive “Local Knowledge” combined with our 3.5 hour "On-the-Water" teaching cruise on the following Sunday (free parking on the streets of Wilmington). We'll address the challenges and complexities of boating in our local coastal environment where we'll "tie" everything together. Topics include: Required Safety Equipment Navigation Rules & Aids Finding Your Way Marlinspike (knots) Trailering Anchoring Communications Afloat Lights and Sound Signals Schedule: 16 May, 2020 – ABC Classroom Cape Fear Community College 8:00am – 4:30pm 17 May, 2020 – Local Knowledge & On-the-Water Cruise 11:00am - 2:30pm Cost: $85 (additional family members living in the same household can share the textbook at the discounted price of $50 each.) Cape Fear Community College, Union Station Building - free campus parking. Enrollment Link Available Soon If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Lt/C Ned Rhodes, SN SEO at educationofficer@capefearsailandpowersquadron.org Photos will be taken at these events for publication in the Foghorn and Squadron website. If you do not wish to have your photo taken, please sign the Opt-Out sheet at this class.
America's Boating Course: - cost: $85.00 Location: Cape Fear Community College Date and Time: ABC 15 Aug, Local Knowledge & On the Water 16 Aug America’s Boating Course^® The Cape Fear Sail & Power Squadron is proudly offering the very best in safe boating education with their boating course which will be offered the Cape Fear Community College. The course is centered around the 8 hour America’s Boating Course^® offered on a single Saturday (8:00am–4:30pm). This class is NASBLA approved and USCG recognized and will satisfy NC safe boating requirements for anyone under 26 years of age. For new boaters or boaters new to the Cape Fear coastal area we have expanded the program to include our exclusive “Local Knowledge” combined with our 3.5 hour "On-the-Water" teaching cruise on the following Sunday (free parking on the streets of Wilmington). We'll address the challenges and complexities of boating in our local coastal environment where we'll "tie" everything together. Topics include: Required Safety Equipment Navigation Rules & Aids Finding Your Way Marlinspike (knots) Trailering Anchoring Communications Afloat Lights and Sound Signals Schedule: 15 August, 2020 – ABC Classroom Cape Fear Community College 8:00am – 4:30pm 16 August, 2020 – Local Knowledge & On-the-Water Cruise 11:00am - 2:30pm Cost: $85 (additional family members living in the same household can share the textbook at the discounted price of $50 each.) Cape Fear Community College, Union Station Building - free campus parking. Enrollment Link Available Soon If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Lt/C Ned Rhodes, SN SEO at educationofficer@capefearsailandpowersquadron.org Photos will be taken at these events for publication in the Foghorn and Squadron website. If you do not wish to have your photo taken, please sign the Opt-Out sheet at this class.
Emergencies on Board: Location: Cape Fear Community College Date and Time: TBD Emergencies on Board This seminar is designed to prepare the prudent skipper for those unfortunate situations involving accidents and emergencies on board. It will provide the skipper with the information to prepare adequately for common emergencies and how to deal with them when they occur. You will learn how to handle a man overboard situation, deal with losing power, deal with medical conditions, deal with steering failures, deal with emergencies when the skipper is disabled among other emergencies. So, this calss will teach you everything you need to know about preparing for emergencies to become a more comfortable and confident boater. Each student also receives a full color Student Guide for the seminar. An Emergencies on Board Quick Guide can also be ordered as an additional resource. Topics include: preventing accidents running aground fire make emergency calls and signals getting lost towing medical conditions other often-encountered emergencies Schedule: TBA Cost: $ TBD Classroom: Cape Fear Community College, Union Station Building - free campus parking. Enrollment Link Available Soon If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Lt/C Ned Rhodes, SN SEO at educationofficer@capefearsailandpowersquadron.org Photos will be taken at these events for publication in the Foghorn and Squadron website. If you do not wish to have your photo taken, please sign the Opt-Out sheet at this class.

Course Description

Advanced Piloting: Member cost: $65.00 - Non-member cost: $85.00 Location: Cape Fear Community College
Date and Time: 21 January - 24 March. 6:30pm - 8:30pm

Advanced Piloting Course

We are pleased to announce that several of our members have recently successfully completed the Piloting class so we will be offering an Advanced Piloting Class. If you have completed piloting with this group or in an earlier class, we hope you will join us for this next step in developing your navigation skills.

Advanced Piloting is the second course in the sequence of the United States Power Squadrons^® courses on navigation. It continues to build coastal and inland navigation skills, allowing the student to take on more challenging conditions like unfamiliar waters, limited visibility, and extended cruises. GPS is embraced as a primary navigation tool while adding radar, chart plotters, and other electronic navigation tools.

As with Piloting, the course includes many in-class exercises, advancing the student’s skills through hands-on practice and learning. Ten classes of 2 hours each normally are scheduled for presentation of this course. In addition the students have seven days to complete the open book exam.

Topics include:

Review of skills learned in Piloting
Advanced positioning techniques such as advancing a line of position
Other electronics: radar, depth sounders, autopilots, chartplotters, laptop computer software, etc.
Hazard avoidance techniques using electronics (e.g., “keep out” zones in GPS)
Collision avoidance using radar and GPS
Working with tides: clearances, depth, effects of current
Piloting with wind and currents
The “Seaman’s Eye” – simple skills for checking that one is on course

Schedule:

21 January - 24 March. Classes will start at 6:30pm and will generally run two hours.

Cost: $65 for members and $10 for spouse/partner; $85 for non-members and $30 for spouse/partner

(Assumes you have a copy of the Weekend Navigator, the plotting tool and a set of dividers from the previous classes.)

Classroom: Union Station Building Cape Fear Community College - free campus parking.

Piloting is a prerequisite to this course

REGISTER HERE

If you have questions or need more information, please contact

Lt/C Ned Rhodes, SN, SEO at educationofficer@capefearsailandpowersquadron.org

Photos will be taken at these events for publication in the Foghorn and Squadron website. If you do not wish to have your photo taken, please sign the Opt-Out sheet at this class.

America's Boating Course: - cost: $85.00 Location: Cape Fear Community College
Date and Time: ABC 29 Feb, Local Knowledge & On the Water 1 Mar

America’s Boating Course^®

The Cape Fear Sail & Power Squadron is proudly offering the very best in safe boating education with their boating course which will be offered at the Cape Fear Community College. The course is centered around the 8 hour America’s Boating Course^® offered on a single Saturday (8:00am – 4:30pm). This class is NASBLA approved and USCG recognized and will satisfy NC safe boating requirements for anyone under 26 years of age.

For new boaters or boaters new to the Cape Fear coastal area we have expanded the program to include our exclusive “Local Knowledge” combined with our 3.5 hour "On-the-Water" teaching cruise on the following Sunday (free parking on the streets of Wilmington). We'll address the challenges and complexities of boating in our local coastal environment where we'll "tie" everything together.

Topics include:

Required Safety Equipment
Navigation Rules & Aids
Finding Your Way
Marlinspike (knots)
Trailering
Anchoring
Communications Afloat
Lights and Sound Signals

Schedule:

29 February, 2020 – ABC Classroom Cape Fear Community College 8:00am – 4:30pm
1 March, 2020 – Local Knowledge & On-the-Water Cruise 8:00am - 11:30pm

Cost: $85 (additional family members living in the same household can share the textbook at the discounted price of $50 each.)

Cape Fear Community College, Union Station Building - free campus parking.

REGISTER HERE

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact

Lt/C Ned Rhodes, SN SEO at educationofficer@capefearsailandpowersquadron.org

Photos will be taken at these events for publication in the Foghorn and Squadron website. If you do not wish to have your photo taken, please sign the Opt-Out sheet at this class.

Weather Course: Member cost: $65.00 - Non-member cost: $90.00 Location: Cape Fear Community College
Date and Time: 29 April - 17 June, 6:30-8:30pm

Weather Course

Even the most experienced Captain will tell you that boating is always dependent on the weather. This course provides a basic understanding of atmospheric stability; forming the foundation of how weather systems build, move and interact with one another. You will learn how and why weather patterns circulate on earth, the effects of the atmosphere, oceans, air and land masses, wind pressure, ocean currents, jet stream, water, humidity, fog, clouds, and precipitation. The level of information about our earth’s weather is guaranteed to give you a new-found appreciation and understanding of how daily weather can help or hinder your boating experience. You will get hands on training on how to predict anticipated weather along with insights into automated tools that every boater or weather enthusiast will find extremely useful. This course will benefit the most seasoned mariner as well as those to who never intend to venture out into the water but admire what “Mother Nature” can produce.

Each student will receive:

United States Power Squadrons^® Weather Textbook - an explanatory text with full color photographs and drawings covering weather in the United States and its coastal and inland waters
Set of 3 millibar charts – to introduce weather forecasting and weather station symbology
NOAA’s Sky Watcher Chart - a reference identifying all of the cloud types – which serves as one tool to help identify approaching weather

Schedule:

4/29, 5/6, 5/13, 5/20, 5/27, 6/3, 6/10, 6/17, 6:30pm - 8:30pm

Cost: $65 members (additional family members living in the same household can share the textbook for an addtional $10)

$90 non-members (addtional family memgers living in the same household can share the textbook for an additional $25)

Cape Fear Community College, Union Station Building - free campus parking.

REGISTER HERE

If you have any addional questions or need additional information, please contact

P/Lt/C Rick Sorrenti, AP for questions: ricksorrenti@outlook.com

Photos will be taken at these events for publication in the Foghorn and Squadron website. If you do not wish to have your photo taken, please sign the Opt-Out sheet at this class.

America's Boating Course: - cost: $85.00 Location: Cape Fear Community College
Date and Time: ABC 16 May, Local Knowledge & On the Water 17 May

America’s Boating Course^®

Topics include:

Required Safety Equipment
Navigation Rules & Aids
Finding Your Way
Marlinspike (knots)
Trailering
Anchoring
Communications Afloat
Lights and Sound Signals

Schedule:

16 May, 2020 – ABC Classroom Cape Fear Community College 8:00am – 4:30pm
17 May, 2020 – Local Knowledge & On-the-Water Cruise 11:00am - 2:30pm

Cost: $85 (additional family members living in the same household can share the textbook at the discounted price of $50 each.)

Cape Fear Community College, Union Station Building - free campus parking.

Enrollment Link Available Soon

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact

Lt/C Ned Rhodes, SN SEO at educationofficer@capefearsailandpowersquadron.org

Photos will be taken at these events for publication in the Foghorn and Squadron website. If you do not wish to have your photo taken, please sign the Opt-Out sheet at this class.

America's Boating Course: - cost: $85.00 Location: Cape Fear Community College
Date and Time: ABC 15 Aug, Local Knowledge & On the Water 16 Aug

America’s Boating Course^®

The Cape Fear Sail & Power Squadron is proudly offering the very best in safe boating education with their boating course which will be offered the Cape Fear Community College. The course is centered around the 8 hour America’s Boating Course^® offered on a single Saturday (8:00am–4:30pm). This class is NASBLA approved and USCG recognized and will satisfy NC safe boating requirements for anyone under 26 years of age.

Topics include:

Required Safety Equipment
Navigation Rules & Aids
Finding Your Way
Marlinspike (knots)
Trailering
Anchoring
Communications Afloat
Lights and Sound Signals

Schedule:

15 August, 2020 – ABC Classroom Cape Fear Community College 8:00am – 4:30pm
16 August, 2020 – Local Knowledge & On-the-Water Cruise 11:00am - 2:30pm

Cost: $85 (additional family members living in the same household can share the textbook at the discounted price of $50 each.)

Cape Fear Community College, Union Station Building - free campus parking.

Enrollment Link Available Soon

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact

Lt/C Ned Rhodes, SN SEO at educationofficer@capefearsailandpowersquadron.org

Photos will be taken at these events for publication in the Foghorn and Squadron website. If you do not wish to have your photo taken, please sign the Opt-Out sheet at this class.

Emergencies on Board: Location: Cape Fear Community College
Date and Time: TBD

Emergencies on Board

This seminar is designed to prepare the prudent skipper for those unfortunate situations involving accidents and emergencies on board. It will provide the skipper with the information to prepare adequately for common emergencies and how to deal with them when they occur. You will learn how to handle a man overboard situation, deal with losing power, deal with medical conditions, deal with steering failures, deal with emergencies when the skipper is disabled among other emergencies. So, this calss will teach you everything you need to know about preparing for emergencies to become a more comfortable and confident boater.

Each student also receives a full color Student Guide for the seminar. An Emergencies on Board Quick Guide can also be ordered as an additional resource.

Topics include:

preventing accidents
running aground
fire
make emergency calls and signals
getting lost
towing
medical conditions
other often-encountered emergencies

Schedule: TBA

Cost: $ TBD

Classroom: Cape Fear Community College, Union Station Building - free campus parking.

Enrollment Link Available Soon

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact

Lt/C Ned Rhodes, SN SEO at educationofficer@capefearsailandpowersquadron.org

Photos will be taken at these events for publication in the Foghorn and Squadron website. If you do not wish to have your photo taken, please sign the Opt-Out sheet at this class.

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