Navigation is what you do to get safely from one place to another and to pinpoint your position during the voyage.
Navigation answers the two questions of Where am I? and How do I get safely from here to there?

Piloting is the use of land and sea marks to get from one feature to another. Sailing from Buoy to Buoy going into a harbor is an example of piloting. As one buoy is noted and identified as it gets closer, the pilot looks for the next buoy, and thus the boat proceeds up the channel. Charts are used to visually orient the pilot to the surroundings to predict what he should see next.
Position is known relative to the land and sea features of the surroundings.

Coastal Navigation uses many of the skills used in piloting but uses the compass and other tools to plot position, speed, set and drift of current and estimated time of arrival. The position of the vessel is noted on the chart as it proceeds on its journey.

Who should take the course?
Everyone who is driving a sail or power vessel.

How is the course structured?
This is self-study course. You will spend about one hour with the instructor before taking the exam. We will answer any questions personally or by phone while you are studying for the exam.
The exam can be taken at any time (please reserve about four hours for it).
The exam is not difficult, but is very comprehensive and requires mastery of all the material in the text as well as practice in exact chart plotting and measuring. The questions are based on theoretical knowledge as well as pracatical charting practices. Many questions build on previous questions and charted results. As we all know, errors multiply, so one slight error in a charted answer may be greatly magnified as that error propagates over serial questions.
The aim of the practice chartwork is practice is painstaking accuracy, which in real-life, can mean th difference between a safe voyage and disaster on a reef!
You will receive an ASA Coastal Navigation Standard (105) certificate.

Prerequisite: None
Total Course Price: $200

Materials:

Details Nautical Chart #1 - Symbols Abbriviations and Terms NYSS Coastal Navigation Textbook NOAA Practice Chart 1020 TR 6' Divider Folding Parallel Rule ASA Coastal Navigation Exam Form

ASA Certifications:
ASA 105 Standard

Coastal Navigation Enrolment Form