Navigation course?

[Adelie]

Amazon.com: Piloting & Dead Reckoning (9781557506832): H. H. Shufeldt: Books

[Steve W]

PDA1, you seem to really have a chip on your shoulder regarding most of the suggestions and comments from this board. There were no big instructor egos; the classroom instruction was very detailed and challenging and it included basic radar. The amount of homework was optional, but since this was my first marine navigation course since I got my pilots license in the '70's, I chose to work thru every problem in the manual. Foggysail is right, it took a lot of work to complete the course, maybe 4-5 hours of chart homework a week. Apparently you already know everything about these courses already, so I'm not sure why you bothered asking.The cost is very low, so maybe you can lower yourself to attend or better yet,join the USCGAUX and teach the class yourself.

[pete33458]

Not to get back on track or anything, but I took the US Power Squadron's courses some years back (Nav, Piloting, Advanced Piloting), and they were very inexpensive and quite well run. I learned a lot more than I will ever need to know... pete

[bill352]

To those who have recommended the USCG Aux course - is this the one you're talking about? It's the most advanced I could find on their website. Thanks.

USCGAUX: Public Boating Courses

[keepondancin]

I took the USCGAux navigation course a couple of times, years ago. My wife did also. When we first started cruising, pre-affordable GPS, we felt completely confident in our navigation skills. When we finally got GPS, we kept, and still keep, a running fix on paper charts. The other plus, is by taking the course you are showing support for a good group of volunteers. Your insurance company will also take the course into account when setting your premiums.

[AnchorageGuy]

Originally Posted by bill352

To those who have recommended the USCG Aux course - is this the one you're talking about? It's the most advanced I could find on their website. Thanks.

USCGAUX: Public Boating Courses

Bill, They offer the basic course, United States Coast Guard Auxiliary - District 11NR and advanced, United States Coast Guard Auxiliary - District 11NR . And here is a list of all courses, USCGAUX D11NR

This is for District 11 but should be available everywhere. Chuck

[PDA1]

Originally Posted by bill352

To those who have recommended the USCG Aux course - is this the one you're talking about? It's the most advanced I could find on their website. Thanks.

USCGAUX: Public Boating Courses

Now that looks like the one I want. 'Took a look at the reviews of the book they use and seems most people are happy with it and glad to see the syllabus covers a lot of navigational work on paper.

Thanks

[bill352]

Thanks, Chuck. District 7 (where I live) doesn't seem to split the course up into basic and advanced, but it's the same thing. Unfortunately, there is not one being given within commuting distance from here, so it's a moot point for me. I'll keep looking, though.

The book (Weekend Navigator) is available on Amazon. (Is that where you found it, PDA1?) The first edition goes for $57.49. The second (newer) edition is available for $15.99. I don't think I understand everything I know about their pricing.

Bill

[PDA1]

Yes, I found it on Amazon.

It's a very handsome cover but I don't know what edition it is or what edition the course uses.

[PDA1]

The world isn't a place full of only positive comments....so hang on folks.

Well, you lost the bet. But there's a happy end to this story.

Took the course. Disappointed.

For example- 60DST was mentioned but not one...not one clear example was given of how to use it. It was assumed you knew how to use it. As a result most of the students had no idea how to calculate the answer given 2 of the known factors. The expression "Sixty Dee Street" answers nothing when it comes to solving the problem.

It was mostly a power-point presentation with the teacher reading the screen.

The teacher had never even heard of OpenCPN.

The book, "weekend navigator" is ok for what it is. But, much of the stuff toward the end of the book could've been summarized on one page.

Every class day took 1-1/2 hours to travel 25 miles to the Aux station (no, I was not riding a bike to it) because of horrible traffic.

Then, there was "locked down" nature of getting into the building, giving up your drivers license, signing in. Felt like a prison.

Here's the good part- met a sailor who recommended a yacht club that had/has very agreeable prices. In the final analysis it was his club recommendation that decided everything. We joined the club, bought our boat and are very, very happy with both.

Would I recommend the course, "weekend navigator"? For my purposes- no. Get "The Weekend Navigator" book off of Amazon, read it, study a chart at length, ask questions on a great forum like this one, plot some experimental courses and you might do well.

This post will probably start a fire storm of angry "listen here you- I've been boating since Noah and even I learned a lot" comments.

I'm stating my experience.

[pete33458]

Originally Posted by PDA1

The world isn't a place full of only positive comments....so hang on folks.

Well, you lost the bet. But there's a happy end to this story.

Took the course. Disappointed.

For example- 60DST was mentioned but not one...not one clear example was given of how to use it. It was assumed you knew how to use it. As a result most of the students had no idea how to calculate the answer given 2 of the known factors.

It was mostly a power-point presentation with the teacher reading the screen.

The teacher never even heard of OpenCPN.

The book, "weekend navigator" is ok for what it is. But, much of the stuff toward the end of the book could've been summarized on one page.

Every class day took 1-1/2 hours to travel 25 miles to the Aux station (no, I was not riding a bike to it) because of horrible traffic.

Then, there was "locked down" nature of getting into the building, giving up your drivers license, signing in. Felt like a prison.

Here's the good part- met a sailor who recommended a yacht club that had/has very agreeable prices. In the final analysis it was his club recommendation that decided everything. We joined the club, bought our boat and are very, very happy with both.

Would I recommend the course, "weekend navigator"? No. Get The Weekend Navigator book off of Amazon, read it, study a chart at length, plot some experimental courses and you'll probably do well.

I know this post will start a fire storm of angry and "listen here you- I've been boating since Noah and even I learned a lot" comments. I'm stating my experience.

Well, I can't say your experience totally surprises me, but there are a couple of things worth considering.

1. you are dealing with the military. Enough said about that one.

2. like any other course, there are good instructors and (let's be kind) not-so-good instructors. Some have a way of making the presentation so that it's interesting and instructive, others don't.

3. USCG courses are primarily aimed at boaters with little experience and probably not much desire for intimate detail.

Overall, I am a huge fan of the USCG, but I wouldn't particularly recommend them for education. It's just not a core mission.

Glad you found the silver lining in the cloud, though! Pete

[PDA1]

Originally Posted by pete33458

3. USCG courses are primarily aimed at boaters with little experience and probably not much desire for intimate detail.

Overall, I am a huge fan of the USCG, but I wouldn't particularly recommend them for education. It's just not a core mission.

Glad you found the silver lining in the cloud, though! Pete

Pete, your Comment 3 says it all. I was surprised that some of the students didn't know that the front of the boat is called the bow. Most were power boaters. And by power I mean BIG power....huge engines...screaming down the waterways as fast as possible.

[Time2Go]

Boatsafe.com
Coastal Navigation Course

A complete course, includes everything
Practice sheets, practice charts, a full size chart
Chapter based with on-line answers to problem sets
At the end of each chapter

Cost about 125.00 Including a set of Weems and Path
dividers, parallel rulers and nautical slide rule

A great course and a good value

[Time2Go]

Just took a look at my course work and manual from
Boat safe.com coastal navigation course
This is definitely what your looking for
And the weeks & Plath stuff is worth half the cost
And should be in your kit
I'm a little old school and whenever I get on somebody else's
Boat my kit contains a small VHF, a small GPS my Nav kit. (Parallel ruler and
Dividers)
And my weather gear">foul weather gear and boots. Just me but my
Living dangerous days ended at 50 and been on some really nice boats
With 100 % reliance on chart plotters. Now that scares me.

[PDA1]

Originally Posted by Time2Go

Just took a look at my course work and manual from
Boat safe.com coastal navigation course
This is definitely what your looking for
And the weeks & Plath stuff is worth half the cost
And should be in your kit
I'm a little old school and whenever I get on somebody else's
Boat my kit contains a small VHF, a small GPS my Nav kit. (Parallel ruler and
Dividers)
And my foul weather gear and boots. Just me but my
Living dangerous days ended at 50 and been on some really nice boats
With 100 % reliance on chart plotters. Now that scares me.

BoatSafe looks good.

Chart plotters are great and I use mine too much. As with land-life there is an over reliance on electronics to do things that we can easily do by hand. Just when you really, really need it to work a computer will fail you.

This year I'm going to try and use my car's GPS for periodic Lon/Lat fix and then plot it on a paper chart. Or I could use a simple voice recorder to record location, time & tacks. For where I sail that would be more than sufficient and use a lot less power considering it wouldn't be on all the time. After a day of sailing and while sitting at anchor it is fun to review the course we just traveled using the chart plotter. But, I'd like to make things more simple.