Offshore Navigation / Junior Navigation - COURSE

Offshore Navigation is the first in a two-part program of study in offshore navigation, followed by the Celestial Navigation course. It is designed as a practical "how-to" course.

The student will continue to use GPS as the primary position sensor, as they learned to do in Marine Navigation and Advanced Marine Navigation. However, the offshore environment poses many different elements for consideration by the Navigator. Ocean currents, wind, and sea state all affect a vessel's performance over the longer passages. Also, visible terrestrial landmarks are no longer available to the navigator as reference points.

In the Offshore Navigation course, the student will learn to substitute celestial objects such as the sun as reference points. The course begins with the study of celestial navigation, teaching the student to take sights on the sun with a marine sextant and derive a line of position from that observation. Next, the student…