ADVANCED GRADES COURSES
USPS Members Only
United States Power Squadrons provides many educational opportunities to both the boating public and to its members. One of the key concepts of the USPS is the self-education of its members, meaning that successful students go on to teach other students to perpetuate boating knowledge. Course offerings for members include these advanced grades as well as a series of elective courses covering a range of boating and booating education related topics.
The Advanced Grades are a series of in-depth courses with a focus on seamanship and navigation for members, and completion of the highest level course determines a member's "grade". Letter grades may appear in USPS printed materials while insignia appear on a member's uniform. Descriptions of these courses, as well as the letter grades and insignia, are shown below.
Seamanship ( S ) |
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Begin your voyage through the advance grades with the study of Seamanship. This course covers navigation rules, skipper's responsibilities, hull forms including stability and trim, maintenance procedures, anchoring including rafting and mooring, boating customs and boat handling. Other topics discussed include marlinespike seamanship, rules of the road, man overboard procedures, radiotelephone operations, fire prevention, basic first aid and plotting.
Piloting ( P ) |
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The Piloting course will provide you with the basic information to take your boat safely to its destination. The course includes a detailed study of charts and publications, aids to navigation, the mariner's compass, bearings, plotting and labeling, steering courses, dead reckoning and a review of marlinspike and seamanship. Completion of this course will equip you with many of the skills necessary for successfully piloting through new areas for the first time. The course also includes a weekend cruise through Martha's Vineyard.
Advanced Piloting ( AP ) |
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Further your knowledge of coastal piloting with the Advanced Piloting Course.
The objective of this course is to provide a well-rounded background for safe
piloting in open coastal waters as well as lakes and rivers. The course begins
with a detailed study of plotting and labeling, and examines the various techniques
for taking bearings and other methods of determining a line of position. The
course continues with compass compensation procedures and describes various
methods for determining a position fix. A major segment of the course explains
tides and currents, the associated tables, and how to apply the information
in preparation for ocean sailing. Also covered in the course are various types
of electronic navigation including radar, LORAN C and GPS. The final section
of the course introduces mercator charts and the construction of a small area-plotting
sheet. A cruise through Martha's Vineyard provides an opportunity to
practice your new skills.
Junior Navigation ( JN ) |
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Junior Navigation teaches you how to apply the science of cartography and astronomy to fix your position and determine your course. Class work begins with the history, theory, adjustments and use of the marine sextant. The sun, moon, stars and planets suitable for celestial navigation are described next. The importance of time, accuracy of measurement and Greenwich Mean Time are explored in detail. The course then shows you how to use a marine sextant along with The Nautical Almanac to determine lines of position for establishing estimated positions and fixes. Special charts are presented for the navigator to introduce the sailing triangle, which allows you to use simple tables to calculate positions or courses and distances to great accuracy. The course concludes with the : "Voyage of Jayenne" , a challenging cruise which provides you with an opportunity to review all of the skills you have learned.
Navigation ( N ) |
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The Navigation course is the final course of the study that begins with Seamanship. A more thorough understanding of the theory behind celestial navigation is presented and the student's repertoire of methods for obtaining position information is expanded. The course reviews the use of the marine sextant and associated altitude corrections and discusses the various methods of sight reduction. The diagram on the plane of the celestial meridian is presented and its use in manipulating the coordinate systems of the celestial horizon and the celestial equator is surveyed in detail. Navigational astronomy is studied in depth, including the mean sun and the apparent sun, sidereal time, solar and lunar phenomena, the identification of celestial bodies and celestial mechanics. The course includes a study of great circle sailing and emergency navigation as it applies to lifeboat position estimating. The conclusion of the class is " The Day's Work at Sea" which gives you a chance to put to practice all of the skills that you have mastered.
