Piloting Course

Piloting is the first course in the sequence of the United States Power Squadrons^® courses on navigation, covering the basics of coastal and inland navigation. This course focuses on navigation as it is done on recreational boats today and embraces GPS as a primary navigation tool while covering enough of traditional techniques so the student will be able to find his/her way even if their GPS fails. The course includes many in-class exercises, developing the student’s skills through hands-on practice and learning. Nine classes of two hours each are scheduled for presentation of this course. In addition, the students have seven days to complete the open book exam.

Topics covered include:

• Charts and their interpretation
• Navigation aids and how they point to safe water
• Plotting courses and determining direction and distance
• The mariner’s compass and converting between True and Magnetic
• Use of GPS – typical GPS displays and information they provide, setting up waypoints and routes, staying on a GPS route.
• Pre-planning safe courses and entering them into the GPS
• Monitoring progress and determining position by both GPS and traditional techniques such as bearings and dead reckoning
• The “Seaman’s Eye” – simple skills for checking that one is on course. 

Schedule:  Starts 25 September for 8 weeks from 6:30 - 8:30pm

Cost:  Member $80, non-member $100. Spouses/partners can share textbook for additional $10 (member), $30 (nonmember). Note: 4x15 Plotter and dividers are necessary for the course and sold by the Squadron at a discounted price of $20. 

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

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. 

Celestial Navigation Course

After Junior Navigation, this course is the second part of the study of offshore navigation, further developing the students understanding of celestial navigation theory. This Navigation course deals with learning celestial positioning using other bodies, in addition to positioning using the sun (covered in the Junior Navigation course). This course also deals with electronic software tools that can be used to plan and execute an offshore voyage. You will first learn to reduce these sights by the Law of Cosines method. Later in the course, you will learn an additional method of sight reduction, the Nautical Almanac Sight Reduction (NASR) method. You will also learn about sight planning techniques. With that knowledge, you will have the tools to take sights and complete your Navigation Sight Folder.  This course includes a chapter on using a software-based voyage planning tool and a navigation program. The final chapter of the course contains a Practice Cruise that ties the separate elements of the course together. This course also includes a copy of The CAPN software. The Offshore Navigation Course (Junior Navigation) is a prerequisite to this course.

Topics covered include:

• A View of our Solar System. A simple overview of how the celestial bodies in the sky appear to us on earth.
• Sunrise...Sunset. Finding local mean time of solar and lunar phenomena and converting the time of these events to zone time.
• Taking Sights and Finding Ho, LHA, and Dec. Taking sights on the moon, navigational planets and stars; applying proper altitude corrections to these sights to obtain Ho; applying corrections for low altitude sights; and computing the LHA and declination of these bodies.
• Sight Reduction and Plotting by the Law of Cosines. Reducing sights of the moon, stars, and planets by the Law of Cosines method; and plotting lines of position (LOPs) for these sights to obtain an estimated position, a running fix, and a true fix.
• Sight Reduction and Plotting by the NASR method. Reducing sights on the sun, moon, stars, and planets by the Nautical Almanac Sight Reduction (NASR) method; and plotting the lines of position (LOPs) for these sights to obtain an estimated position, a running fix, and a true fix.
• Sight Planning. Planning your sights to achieve good 2- and 3-body fixes, using both traditional and electronic tools.
• Emergency Navigation. Provisioning an emergency navigation kit and constructing emergency plotting sheets; and determining destination coordinates mathematically from course and distance traveled.
• Electronics and Software for Offshore Navigation. Using a software-based voyage planning tool to plan an offshore voyage (Visual Passage Planner 2); and using a navigation program in executing the voyage.
• Underway. A review of the Navigator’s duties and USPS Plotting and Labeling Standards; and setting up and using a 900 series plotting sheet. The student will execute a leg of an offshore voyage using both electronic and traditional tools, including celestial positioning. This Practice Cruise is an excellent preparation for the open book exam.
• Exam. There are two exam elements for the course, the Sight Folder and an Open Book Exam. Both are graded by the Offshore Navigation Committee.

Schedule: Starts 15 October 6:30pm - 8:30pm for 8 Weeks

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

If you have questions or need additional information,

please contact Lt/C Ned Rhodes, SN 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.