New to Sailing

[reiner]

Hi everybody, we just bought a H28 and need to learn a lot in the next years to come. Most importantly I feel is navigation. I have a chartplotter and a hand held Garmin 60 as backup but I do not like to depend on those. I bought a little booklet on coastal navigation but it doesn't tell me much.
What is the best way to learn good navigation skills?
Thank you

[Drew13440]

The U.S. Coast Guard teaches basic and advanced navigation to the public for a nominal fee. It would be a long commute to class for you, but surely there must be similar arrangements in Australia?

The USCG course text is online at E-LIB - Basic and Advanced Coastal Navigation if you are looking for something to read. Good luck.

[drinky]

I found my local library had a fair range of navigation books. Don't know if you have access to your library but worth a try.

[hurakan]

Hi,

Bowditch's Practical American Navigator would give you all you need in means of theory.
It is the Bible of Navigators..

One of the sources you can find it : Bowditch Online


Apart these writen sources: always the same: PRACTICE. Watch the landmarks during coastal cruising, plot them on paper charts, have a bearing compass in your pocket all the time so that you get the habit to work with angles.

[SaucySailoress]

Buy a GPS, switch it on, and give it a go. If you need, read the instruction book, but I never knew anyone who had to do that yet... Welcome aboard!

[reiner]

Originally Posted by Aaza Dana

Buy a GPS, switch it on, and give it a go. If you need, read the instruction book, but I never knew anyone who had to do that yet... Welcome aboard!

funny I was thinking along those lines. Reading navigation books feels a bit like doing a course in accounting :-) ( sorry to the accountants here)
My better half asked what about a plan B? I thought plan B would be another GPS powered by batteries and handheld. I know how to use a compass and have maps. We should be ok.
Thanks for the replies
Reiner

[chuckr]

go take one of the asa sailing courses or the asa nav class - they are excellent and you will get the idea - i did my learning in the mountains of idaho and it was an easy transition but when i went to charter the first time they wanted me to take the asa nav course which i did and at the 1st break the instructor apologized that he made me take it and asked that i tutor a real slow learner
had fun at it

learn it well as you never know when you will need it - we got with lightening in bahamas and only had gps for position and had paper charts to get back - hit our intended destination in miami right on in 7' seas - (God does see sailors back home)

chuck patty and svsoulmates
on hook st marys city, md

chuck patty and svsoulmates

[Healer52]

There's three main kinds of 'navigation'....ded reckoning (deduced), celestial, and GPS....

GPS requires little to no brains.

Ded is pretty simple, if you can remember T=SxD (time equals speed times distance). Not much in the way of tools, and most all of it is self-learnable from books (Bowditch, Duttons, a few other good books).

Celestial requires skill and tools. You can try to teach yourself, and might succeed. It's a LOT easier with a teacher.

[Astrid]

It doesn't hurt to eventually learn all three methods.