Piloting (P)

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Piloting (P) Summary

Prerequisites:  Piloting is open to all Active USPS Members  and Family Members who have have successfully completed one of the following classes:

• USPS® Basic Boating Course

• USPS® Boat Smart Course

• America's Boating Course

• Coast Guard AUX Boating Safety Class

• or Equivalent Boating Safety Course

Piloting is the first of a two-part program of study of inland and coastal navigation. Focus is on the fundamentals of basic piloting - keeping track of your movements on the water using GPS, determining where you are at any given moment, and laying out a course to your planned destination. Included are a thorough study of charts and their use, aids to navigation, mariner's compass, variation and deviation of the compass, plotting and steering courses, bearings, dead reckoning, and developing skill at plotting and labeling. Newly updated and totally rewritten Piloting course ready for students!  A totally new approach to teaching piloting is ready for instruction to USPS classes.  The new approach not only incorporates the latest information on GPS into the piloting process, but uses up-to-date computer graphics to make both teaching and learning easier.  The new course, along with its soon to be added companion Advanced Piloting, incorporates the use of GPS while retaining the traditional material on charting, dead reckoning, and a host of other piloting skills.  The new courses also demonstrate new material on computer navigation and digital charting from the included digital charting CD, and provide a Student Guide with color graphics and a new 2004 text as a supporting reference. 

It is highly recommended to take the "Advanced Piloting" course upon  completing Piloting.

Piloting (P) Course Syllabus