SHREWSBURY POWER SQUADRON -- EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT
Contact the Squadron
Education Officer, Lt/C Henry Keller, JN, by e-mail
hankkeller@msn.com (732 695-2993)
Courses must have a certain enrollment to
make it worth the time of the instructor and the squadron to offer the class.
Members are encouraged to give feedback on what courses they would be
interested in taking when the Schedule of Courses is published. Some members
may be interested in a particular course while others are open to suggestion.
By letting the Education Officer know what course(s) you are interested in
taking and what course(s) you would consider taking, it makes it easier to accommodate
everyone to the best of our abilities.
The two categories of these courses are:
Elective Courses and Advanced Courses.
Contact the
course chair for more information. The chairs are:
PILOTING --
ADVANCED PILOTING --
Lt/C Robert Dougherty, AP Tel. 732-936-1418
JUNIOR NAVIGATION -- Lt Robert A. Hofmann, SN, Tel: 732-671-9308
NAVIGATION -- Lt Robert A. Hofmann,
SN, Tel: 732-671-9308
.
ELECTIVE COURSES
Elective courses
consist (in alphabetical order) of Cruise Planning (CP), Engine Maintenance
(EM),Instructor Qualification (IQ), Marine Electronics (ME), Sail (SA), and
Weather (W.).
Contact the Course
Chairmen for further information.
CRUISE PLANNING --
P/N/F/Lt Michael J. Horowitz, JN, Tel. 732-531-8311
ENGINE MAINTENANCE --
INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT -- P/C Henry
Keller, JN Tel. 732-695-2993
MARINE ELECTRONICS -- .
SAIL and WEATHER -- P/C Barry N. Grabelle,
SN Tel: 732-741-8525
.
Educational Courses
The two categories of these courses are: Elective
Courses and Advanced Courses.
Elective
Courses
Elective Courses may be taken at
any time, and in any order you chose. These courses are Cruise Planning, Engine
Maintenance, Marine Electronics, Sail, Weather and Instructor Qualification. In
addition, there is a discussion group called Operations Training. The only cost
for these classes is for the texts, materials and fees charged for classroom
use.
Cruise Planning (CP)
CP discusses everything you need to know about planning for a cruise on board
your boat, whether it will last hours, days or months. Take CP with your Family
Members with who you will cruise; including them will be more fun and
informative for all of you. This class is taught by Mike and Lucille Horowitz
who regularly do long-distance cruising in their trawler each year. This class
is fun and informative and is highly recommended for new members because many
of the same principles that apply to long distance cruising apply to near-shore
and short-term cruising.
Engine Maintenance (EM)
EM will teach you how to do routine Maintenance on a boat’s engine and related
equipment. Equally important, it will teach you how to spot potential problems.
You will learn how to diagnose problems so that you can more intelligently
assess the work that needs to be done and discuss it more intelligently with
those you select to do it.
Marine Electronics (ME)
Today there is more electronic equipment aboard small boats than on large naval
ships a half century ago; radios, radar, loran, global positioning systems,
weather fax systems, and many others. We need to know a little about how they
work and a lot about how to use them. ME is the course
that provides this information to you.
Sail (Sa)
There’s more to going for a sail than hauling the sails up the mast lines and
letting go the dock lines. When you take sail, you’ll learn about different
kinds of wind – true, apparent, boat – and different kinds of sailboats –
sloops, ketches, yawls etc. You will also learn how to make the wind, sail
configuration, and weight of your boat produce the fastest and/or most
comfortable ride for you and your passengers. This course is taught by P/C
Barry Grabelle.
Weather (Wx)
Here’s your opportunity to become familiar with the problems meteorologists
encounter. Learn how they determine what the weather is most likely to be at
some time in the future. Boating is really a “know before you go” activity, and
knowing what the weather will be can be critical to your fun and safety. This
course is This course is taught by P/C Barry Grabelle.
Instructor Development (ID)
You will learn how to make an effective presentation
to other people. The course covers preparation of your presentation and use of
aids to help you make your point. This course is run by P/C Hank Keller.
Operations Training (OT)
Is not an Educational Class but a participatory program under the
Administrative Department where members present a topic on the operation of
USPS and our squadron. Afterward, there is an opportunity for discussion of the
topic. While Officers are required to take OT, the discussion group is open to
all members. No exam. The program runs approximately 6 weeks. This course is
organized by P/C Bob Baechle.
When to take elective courses
The Elective Courses may be taken in any order you wish. You can self-study and
or all of these courses and challenge any course’s examination to obtain
permanent credit, but we encourage you to take them with other student-members.
Students always bring their own experiences to the classes and share them, so
you will learn things not found in the texts. You will also develop friendships
with your fellow students due to the love of boating we all share.
Advanced
Grade Courses
Seamanship (S)
S is our boat-handling course. It covers your responsibility as a skipper. You
will learn the basics of anchoring, line handling, and rules of the road.
Piloting (P)
Your primary course in navigating your boat within sight of land, P will show
you how to get from where you are to where you want to go, safely and directly.
You will learn how to plot your course and position on a chart, the various
types of charts available, the different types of aids to navigation, and how
to use a compass effectively. As a sign of having completed Piloting, you may
add the grade P after your name. The class runs approximately 8-10 weeks.
Advanced Piloting (AP)
After completing Seamanship and Piloting, you’ll want
to take AP to complete your near-shore cruising education. You will learn
sophisticated methods of finding and plotting your position. You’ll also learn
to avoid dangerous-water conditions, figure out if there will be enough water
to enter your marina, too much to get under a bridge, or if the current is too
strong for your boat to get through the pass quickly. You’ll also learn how to
determine your compass’ deviation and prepare a deviation table for your boat.
If you have the background and skills to do the work, you may study and
complete the work before you take Seamanship and/or Piloting. However, if you
do, you have not earned the AP grade designator until all three of these
courses are successfully completed. The course runs approximately 10-12 weeks.
Members who complete Seamanship, Piloting, Advanced Piloting and any three
elective courses have earned the Educational Proficiency Award. Senior
Navigator (N, formerly called SN) is an individual who has completed all of the
USPS classes offered. Is also referred to as a Full
certificate. Our Squadron also recognizes ”Master
Mariners”. These members have earned a Full Certificate (completed all of the
classes offered) and have also earned 5 Merit Marks through 5 years of Squadron
Service.
Junior Navigation (JN)
When you’ve completed your near-shore cruising
education, it will be time to learn how the more adventurous seamen travel the
high seas. JN is the course that will tell you everything you’ve wanted to know
about electronic navigation, and will also introduce you to celestial
navigation – finding your way using only stars and planets. Or
what to do when the batteries die. As you may have guess by now, when
this course is completed you may add the grade JN after your name. Both JN and
N are taught by Bob Hofmann. The course runs approximately 24 weeks.
Navigation (N)
And now, the full dose of celestial navigation! In N, you will learn nearly
everything there is to know about finding your way using only a sextant and
celestial bodies. In fact, you’ll even learn how to find where you are in an
emergency, lost –at-sea situations when you don’t even have a sextant. When you
take navigation, you will learn not only how to use celestial navigation, but
its theory – why it works. When you’ve completed all of the advanced grade
courses, you are entitled to put N after your name.
Advanced grade courses may be taken in any order that you wish, but as
described above, your grade designator will always depend upon which courses
you have completed. As with the elective courses, you can self-study and or all
of these courses and challenge any course’s examination to obtain permanent
credit, but we encourage you to take them with other student-members and we
recommend that you take them in the order because each class generally builds
on the material in the previous class.
This page last revised November 1, 2010