A guide for the amateur yachtsman that examines navigational problems and procedures as well as recent advances in piloting and plotting

Improve your understanding of charts and you will navigate with increased safety and confidence. First explaining how charts are compiled, this guides you through the elements that make up these vital navigational tools. In addition to the wealth of practical advice the book contains the Symbols and Abbreviations Used on Admiralty Charts in full.

The practical guide to celestial navigation - know what to do step by step, understand why you're doing it, and be confident that you can put it into practice when on board. Did you know that a person standing on the equator is effectively travelling at 900mph? And did you know that you can use this information to work out where you are in the world, to an accuracy of about 3 or 4 miles? No GPS, no computers. Just a sextant, some tables from an Almanac and the knowledge in this book. It's the only back up if the GPS goes down, so it's a matter of safety. If you want to qualify as a commercial skipper/superyacht captain you need to know how to carry out celestial navigation. And if you want to pass the RYA Ocean YachtmasterTM exam, you need to know it too. It's a major stumbling block for many sailors wanting or needing to take their next qualifications, and the other books on the market are complex and often assume some prior understanding. This book fulfils the need for a clear explanation of celestial navigation, illustrated with colour diagrams and including unique checklist sheets to enable you to repeat all those calculations you learned back at home, when you're on deck. Without overwhelming the reader with a load of theory from the off, the author breaks down what you need to do, step by step, explaining why at every point – giving the information context, and making it more interesting and memorable. He has trained students in this subject for years, and here he's able to use his experiences of what works, and what are the common pitfalls – he even includes a troubleshooting chapter near the end, going through errors commonly made, and how to spot them. The objective is that readers will finish the book not only knowing what to do, but really understanding why, and being able to make sense of it all again later (rather than just getting through and exam and finding themselves at a loss when on deck). The author also includes time-tested 'proformas' – quick reference sheets that sailors can refer to when they come to putting the theory into practice on board, avoiding the terrifying 'cold start' that most sailors experience when they suddenly need to put their theoretical knowledge to the test in the real world.

Praised by The Practical Sailor as "a first-class piece of work," Susan P. Howell's Practical Celestial Navigation was developed for Mystic Seaport's navigation courses. This third edition, originally published by the Seaport's Planetarium, retains the step-by-step format of the original, along with an abundance of diagrams and practice problems. Practical Celestial Navigation is recommended as a self-instruction text for beginners or for old celestial hands getting back in practice.

The aspiring Officer of the Watch can now achieve certification through NVQ or SVQ unit achievement ratified by MSA oral examination. This new publication, which replaces Practical Navigation for Second Mates and Principals and Practices of Navigation, has been extended in scope to reflect these changes.

This comprehensive and authoritative guide to practical navigation draws on the author’s extensive experience of leisure cruising and ocean racing. It combines detailed directions on how to navigate along coasts, in harbours, at night and in bad weather with easy-to-understand technical information about the electronic tools involved in safe navigation, including radar, GPS, AIS and chart plotters. Key basics such as charts, buoys, lights and tides are carefully explained and illustrated with diagrams and colour photographs throughout. Practical descriptions of navigation scenarios, such as fixing a position or plotting a course, are brought to life with anecdotes and precise detail. An indispensable reference guide for anyone wishing to sail or motor a boat safely in any situation.