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Lake Hopatcong Sail & Power SquadronMember Courses |
A PILOTING course will be given on
Monday nights starting
on September 27th.
For INFO and REGISTRATION:
Call Mike at (973) 627-7560
or email him at: mikemcb@verizon.net
Mike wants to know what seminars you
are interested in taking this year.
Click to see the list of
available courses & their descriptions.
THEN, call Mike at (973) 627-7560
or email him at: mikemcb@verizon.net
to tell him what you want!!
For course information contact:
Lt Mike McBride, SN
Tel: (973) 627-7560
Email: mikemcb@verizon.net
* * * CLICK ANY
UNDERLINED ITEM FOR MORE INFORMATION * * *
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Advanced Grades |
Elective Courses | |
| USPS Learning Guides |
Course starting dates and other pertinent information is available from the course instructor.
USPS currently offers eleven courses to its members. These average ten to twelve weeks in duration. A few courses are longer than this and a few shorter. For a few courses, the advanced nature of the course content necessitates completing a prerequisite course. Your Squadron Educational Officer can explain these to you. (See your Roster for the name and phone number of your Squadron Educational Officer.) The remainder become immediately available to you.
The courses offered are described below. The first five courses comprise a series called "Advanced Grades." They should be taken in the order listed, since each course builds upon the knowledge gained in the previous one. The next six courses are termed "Elective Courses" and may be taken in any order.
Seamanship takes up where the public boating safety course left off. It covers basic knowledge that every skipper wants to know even before leaving port. It includes practical marlinspike, hull design and performance, boat care, the skipper's responsibilities, boating under both normal and abnormal conditions, handling emergencies afloat, and much more.
This course introduces you to the important topics of marine charts, aids to navigation, use and adjustment of the mariner's compass, planning and plotting a course, using the "dead reckoning" method of keeping track of your position, and taking compass bearings to determine your boat's position on the water, tides and currents and other aspects of piloting.
Instructor: Lt Michael J. McBride, JN
This course builds on the knowledge gained in Piloting to teach you how to navigate in coastal waters, how to predict and correct your course plots for tides and currents, how to navigate safely with electronic devices such as radar, loran C, and GPS, and how to optimize course planning.
Instructor: Lt Michael J. McBride, JN
While Piloting and Advanced Piloting train you to effectively navigate in coastal waters within sight of land and visible navigation aids, Junior Navigation begins your study of offshore navigation. You will learn to use integrated electronic positioning systems, how to take sights on celestial bodies with a mariner's sextant, and how to use special open-ocean charts to plan your passage and determine your position.
Instructor: Lt
Michael J. McBride, JN
Sail guides you through the special terminology and dynamics of sailing, hulls and rigging, wind and water forces and balance, points of sail, sail handling, and navigation rules unique to sailing and much more. It is in two modules, Basic Sail 101, and Advanced Sail 102. Each module runs six to seven weeks.
This course is designed to help you prepare for voyaging in your boat, whether it's just a weekend or a multi-month cruise. You'll learn the essentials of equipping and provisioning your boat, selecting a crew, financing the trip, entering and clearing foreign ports, handling emergencies afloat, and boat security
This course will teach you how to troubleshoot most common engine
problems and "jury rig" many repairs. The course covers outboard motors,
inboard gasoline and diesel engines, power trains, and related mechanical
systems. This course won't turn you into an expert mechanic, but can save
you time and money.
Instructor Qualification provides you with the practical knowledge and training in techniques of making effective presentations, whether as a course instructor, meeting chair, public speaker, or everyday conversationalist
This course offers you essential information about boat electrical and electronic systems in non-technical terms. You will learn about proper wiring and power systems, corrosion and electrolysis, and electronic navigation, communications, and safety systems.
This course teaches you the basic structures and characteristics of our
atmosphere, how to interpret weather maps and reports, and how to make
your own skilled observations. It's all geared to helping you predict and
anticipate weather developments affecting your
boating.
USPS is in the process of restructuring all courses into "modules" of about six weeks each to give members and squadrons maximum scheduling flexibility.
USPS also offers a series of "USPS Learning Guides." They are self-study handbooks on specialized boating related subjects of interest to skippers and navigators. Topics range from GPS to Knots, Bends, & Hitches; from Amateur Radio to Oceanography; from Boat Design & Construction to Predicted Log Contests. USPS currently has over twenty different Learning Guides.
Now it's up to you. Are you ready to expand your boating knowledge and skills?
Copyright © 1997 - 2010 Lake
Hopatcong Sail & Power Squadron, Inc.