Sail Canada Basic Coastal Navigation Course

This course teaches you the basics of coastal navigation. You will learn how to read nautical charts, understand chart symbols, calculate distance and recognize hazards for trip planning.

You will learn about chart variation and compass deviation and become proficient at converting bearings and courses between degrees True and degrees Magnetic.

A significant portion of this course is focused on tides and currents. You will become comfortable at reading tide and current tables at reference stations but you will also become skilled at calculating time differences at secondary stations. Understanding tides and currents is essential for efficient and safe trip planning.

This course also covers basic navigational chart plotting. With the use of your course chart, a set of parallel rules and a divider, you will be able to plot a course, mark dead reckonings (DR’s) and determine your position using two and three point fixes with the use of different types of Lines of Position (LOP’s).

Why take Basic Coastal Navigation?

You should have basic navigation skills for your own safety afloat. If all else fails and all you have is a chart and a few basic navigation tools, you should have no problem in navigating your way to safety.

Basic Coastal Navigation is a useful tool which can be used to compliment electronic navigation. You will feel more confident in your trip planning and setting waypoints as a result of your coastal navigation skills that you will learn. Many boating accidents are attributed to an over reliance on electronic navigation.

If you are interested in chartering sailboats, most charter companies, due to insurance coverage, now require a basic navigation certification and the Sail Canada basic coastal navigation certification is recognized world wide.

Basic coastal navigation is also a prerequisite for more advanced sailing certifications. Sail Canada requires that you have a Basic Coastal Navigation certification before you and can the Intermediate Cruising course.

We allow you to learn at your own pace. We supplement the textbook and exercise book with additional materials and we work with you as your progress through the course. We make sure that you are exam ready by providing you with a practice exam so that there are no surprises.

Course cost: $195 plus materials

Registration is easy, just email us and let us know you are interested and we will go from there.

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 780 499 4295

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