Navigation course
This is an advanced online course on marine navigation, providing you with the “conditio sine qua non” of offshore sailing. Nowadays most sailors tend to rely on modern equipment like GPS / Galileo / GLONASS or Radar to navigate them through hazardous waters. Not only is such reliance unwanted and possibly dangerous, also the act of navigating by yourself is actually a lot of fun, especially when sailing in Greece or Turkey, which are the supreme cruising areas to learn how to sail.
What is navigation?
“Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse” is latin for: to sail is vital, to live is not. This phrase tells us that both sailing and the “conditio” of positioning are highly intertwined. Indeed, the art of navigation enables you to set a course and sail to your destination by using only nautical charts, a compass and your common sense.
The aim of this course is to teach you how to navigate safely while using the minimum of resources: methods that have been in use since the Middle Ages, and are still applied by the professionals
This course greatly extends on – for instance – the ASA and RYA courses and gives you the insight and feel of a seasoned navigator.
Enjoy!
Click on the links below to study the chapters,
also you can download the
exercises + answers PDF
Chapter 1 – Positions
Chapter 2 – Nautical chart
Chapter 3 – Compass
Chapter 4 – Plotting and piloting
Chapter 5 – Plotting and piloting – Advanced
Chapter 6 – Tides
Chapter 7 – Tide prediction
Chapter 8 – Currents
Chapter 9 – Navigation aids
Chapter 10 – Lights and Shapes
- Math – Running fixes
- Math – Distance of horizon
- Math – Vertical sextant angles
- Compass deviation table
- Luminous range diagram
- Geographic range table
- Anchors, anchoring and
Mediterranean mooring techniques - Flags and etiquette
- Style guide: notation of distances
and coordinates (used on this website) - Celestial navigation course – zipped PDF
Meteorology
Clouds: fair weather cumulus versus cumulonimbus - how to forecast showers
Raindrops aren't spherical
The wind chill forecast
How to forecast the Meltemi wind