For hundreds of years there has been this mystique about coastal navigation. Yet in reality the process is quite simple. In response to our successful online Marine Radio program, All Hands on Deck Maritime Training have devised a number of Coastal Navigation programs for Australia, The United Kingdom and the United States. The information below is for the US version of the Coastal Navigation…it’s easy program. Our Coastal Navigation course has been created for use in both online and offline distance learning. This allows you the flexibility to learn and practice coastal navigation techniques, regardless of where you live in the US and Canada and at your own pace.

The course covers a wide range of coastal navigation topics which are designed to make you knowledgeable and confident even if you have never stepped on board a vessel. If you already have some boating background this program will build on your current knowledge and allow you to practice over and again so that you can keep your knowledge ‘current’. The Coastal Navigation course covers the following:

• Receive unlimited email access to our Trainers
• Learn Coastal Navigation Terminology
• Learn to interpret nautical chart features
• Understand chart reliability
• Identify charts symbols, dangers, soundings, lights etc
• Use nautical charts for plotting courses, dead reckoning (DR), estimated (EP) and confirmed (fixes) positions
• Learn how to plot Transits, measure distances and find directions
• Understand and use Speed, Time and Distance calculations
• Understand and apply Variation and Deviation to courses and bearings
• Be introduced to Radar and GPS for use in navigation
• Conduct a simulated passage
• Understand and apply tidal and current information and much more
• Coordinates, Latitude, Longitude, Meridians, Lights, Finding and/or Plotting positions
• The Compass, Variation, Deviation, Compass Error, ‘Swing the Compass’ and Pelorus Compass
• Plotting positions and courses, converting true courses to compass courses
• Relative bearings, Transit bearings, The ‘Running Fix’, The ‘Four Point’ bearing, ‘Double the angle on the bow’, The Extreme Range fix
• Set and Drift, Tides, Tidal Streams, Find the Depth, Anchoring overnight
• The Estimated Position (EP), more Set and Drift, Plotting course to counter Set and Drift
• Buoyage, The ‘Cardinal’ system, Lateral Marks, Isolated Dangers, Special Marks, Safe Water Marks, IALA Buoyage
• The Sextant, How the Sextant works, Horizontal angles, Distance off by Elevation
• Conduct a simulated passage applying courses, taking bearings and applying set and drift. This brings it all together.
• Electronics in Navigation including – GPS, Radar, Radio etc

Do you already have navigational equipment such as parallel rulers and dividers? Have you completed a coastal navigation course before and still have chart TR12354? If so there is no need to buy the equipment and chart again. The download version of Coastal Navigation…it’s easy is ideal to keep your skills alive and revise your skills at your pace. This component includes:

•  Coastal Navigation Training (electronic download)
• Additional online exercises covering Understanding Nautical Charts, Tides, Set & Drift, Chart Symbols, Terminology and more
• Unlimited assistance (7 days a week) via email with our experienced maritime trainers