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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.
- 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:
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Review of
skills learned in Piloting
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Advanced
positioning techniques such as advancing a line of position
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Other
electronics: radar, depth sounders, autopilots, chartplotters, laptop
computer software, etc.
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Hazard
avoidance techniques using electronics (e.g., “keep out” zones in GPS)
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Collision
avoidance using radar and GPS
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Working with
tides: clearances, depth, effects of current
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Piloting with
wind and currents
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The “Seaman’s Eye” – simple skills for
checking that one is on course


- 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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