Prerequisite: Boating Course, CPS Membership

Course Description:  Piloting is the type of navigation practised in B.C. coastal waters, lakes, rivers, bays and sounds, in areas close to shore, and in harbour approaches.  A graduate of the Piloting Course will have the theoretical knowledge to be able to handle a boat in rough weather, and to deal with emergency situations.

Course content: Boating Course subjects are expanded to include Relative Bearings and the Running Fix; effects of current and leeway, and new skills in marlinspike and coastal navigation are learned.

Duration: 12 weeks

Outline

• Dead Reckoning and the Log

• Marlinespike Seamanship

• The Magnetic Compass

• Fixed Aids to Navigation

• Floating Aids to Navigation

• Bearings and Fixes

• Relative Bearings

• Distance of an Object by Two Relative Bearings

• Weather

• Wind, Waves and Current

• Seamanship Skills for Adverse Weather

• Anchors and Anchoring

• Tides

• Tidal Currents

• Navigating in a Current

• Buoyancy and Stability

• Hull Construction and Shape

• Hull Performance

• Propellers and Propeller Action

• Rudders and Steering

• Mechanisms

• Emergencies

• Preparedness and Enjoyment

• Introduction to Electronic Navigation

• Manners and Customs