Advanced   Grade Courses

         Advance grade courses are for members only and are designed to be taken in sequence  following the Public Boating Course or the Boat Smart Course, beginning with Seamanship and progressing through Piloting, Advanced Piloting, Junior Navigation, and Navigation.  

• Seamanship - 

  Building on the basics learned in Boating, Seamanship is an important foundation for other "advanced grade" courses.  The student learns -
   

  S101 Seamanship	S102 Boat Handling
  Marlinespike Safety The Skipper's Responsibilities Before Leaving the Dock Weather and Wave Forms Nautical Etiquette and Customs	Hull Design and Care Docking and Undocking, Towing, Trailering Anchoring, Rafting, Mooring and Dinghies Cruising Considerations Boating Emergencies - Be Prepared

• Piloting -  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.

                                   

• Advanced Piloting -  This all-new course continues to build coastal and inland navigation skill, allowing the student to take on more challenging conditions – unfamiliar waters, limited visibility, and extended cruises.  GPS is embraced as a primary navigation tool while adding radar, chartplotters, and other electronic navigation tools.  As with Piloting, the course includes many in-class exercises, advancing the student’s skills through hands-on practice and learning.   Topics covered include:
  • Review of skills learned in Piloting
  • Advanced positioning techniques such as advancing a line of position
  • Other electronics:  radar, depth sounders, autopilots, chartplotters, laptop computer software, etc.
  • Hazard avoidance techniques using electronics (e.g., “keep out” zones in GPS)
  • Collision avoidance using radar and GPS
  • Working with tides: clearances, depth, effects of current
  • Piloting with wind and currents
  • The “Seaman’s Eye” – simple skills for checking that one is on course

                                               

     

• Junior Navigation - 

  Junior Navigation is the first in a two-part program of study in offshore navigation, followed by the Navigation course.  It is designed as a practical "how to" course.  Subject matter includes:                        

                                                                                                                            

  • Precise time determination
  • Use of the Nautical Almanac                                                                                                                                     
  • Taking sextant sights of the sun
  • Reducing sights to establish lines of position
  • Special charts and plotting sheets for offshore navigation
  • Offshore navigational routines for recreational craft

• Navigation -  This course is a continuation of Junior Navigation with more emphasis on finding ones position through the use of celestial bodies.  Fundamental principals are expanded, computations and methods are practiced, and the daily work of the navigator in performed.
  
    

Squardron members wishing to take an Advanced Class should contact the Squadron Education Officer

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