OCSC Sailing School

Coastal Passagemaking

Description/Overview | Topics Covered | What's Included | Course Schedule

OCSC Coastal Navigator course

OCSC's "Coastal Navigator" course

OCSC's Coastal Passagemaking course, like all of our courses, is intensive, challenging and incredibly rewarding. The work is hard, you will be very tired by the end, and you will leave with great new skills and a full appreciation for the rigors of long coastal passages.

California's coast is notorious for fog, navigational challenges, mercurial weather, and the dangers of its stark and rocky shore -- and that's all good because if you can master sailing on the coast here, you can do it almost anywhere. Even the Golden Gate is superb training venue becasue it's one of the most challening port entrances in the country. You will spend your time in this course learning the skills peculiar to coastal passages, where preparation, situational awareness, communication, team skills, problem-solving ability, and leadership are at a premium.

You will transit the Golden Gate several times, undergo a passage, of which at least 20 miles will be at night and learn how to quickly assess and work with the specific set of skills and attributes your crew bring to the trip. The last two days of the course include the practical evaluation for all certification candidates.

This course rewards sailors who attend with the full package of prerequisite skills and knowledge as well as lots of recent experience.

Coastal Passagemaking certification means you possess skills and knowledge that the vast majority of sailors have yet to acquire. The certification that you receive means that you have a substantial set of cruising skills and have demonstrated those in a challenging environment. It is also your ticket to confidence when handling the more challenging coastal passages of the world where the conditions and distances call for more than Bareboat Cruising skills.

Successful completion prepares you to:

  • Plan, organize and execute a safe, efficient coastal passage along most coasts in the world.
  • Sail from Seattle to Los Angeles; Bar Harbor, Maine to Norfolk, Virginia; or Boston to Miami -- and make many other coastal passages that demand excellent seamanship, leadership and navigational skills.

Class Information

Cost:

  • Member: $1496.25
  • Retail: $1995.00

# of students:

  • 4 maximum

Boat:

Formats:

  • Seven Consecutive Days
    Monday - Sunday
    (Tues - Sun nights are spent aboard the boat)
  • Two Consecutive Three day Weekends
    (Thursday 6PM – Sunday)

Prerequisites:

Bareboat Cruising & Coastal Navigation certifications.*
(Please see detailed explanation below.)

*Prerequisites for Coastal Passagemaking:

  • To attend:
    In order to attend this course, you must have US Sailing's Bareboat Cruising and Coastal Navigation certifications or equivalent experience. Extensive day sailing and weekending experience on cruising boats in the low- to mid-30' range is strongly advised. Call us and one of our club managers familiar with the training and the program can advise you and set you up for success.
  • To be evaluated for certification:
    If you are a US Sailing member and you meet all the prerequisite qualifications, you may be evaluated for Coastal Passagemaking certification through US Sailing. US Sailing's Bareboat Cruising and Coastal Navigation certifications are prerequisites for you to be considered for CPM certification. In addition to the practical evaluation, you must successfully complete the Coastal Passagemaking written exam (taken within a reasonable time after completion of the course). This exam is based on the topics covered in the course, as well as in the course text, Coastal Passagemaking.

Good to know:

  • This course is for those with serious cruising goals or an intense desire to improve their seamanship skills as much as possible.
  • If you are uncertain of your sensitivity to motion, be sure to bring a dependable remedy so you can get the most out of the course. If you need advice, please call OCSC for information on different approaches.

Completion of this course makes the following available to you: Offshore Passagemaking

Topics Covered

Here are some of the things you'll learn in our Coastal Navigation course:

  • Deduced reckoning: Known as Ded or Dead Reckoning, this is the 'shorthand' for navigators.
  • Calculating an estimated position: When life isn't perfect and you can't get a three bearing fix.
  • Calculating set and drift: Handling current set and drift is the core of what advanced coastal navigation is about.
  • Interpreting tide and current charts: Know the speed and direction of current and the height of the tide at any given time, any given location.
  • Establishing a running fix: The coastal cruising sailor's life saver.
  • Taking bearings and ranges: The basics -- good bearings make for good fixes.
  • Radar, Loran, GPS and other electronic aids to navigation: They make life easier but they require a certain amount of training to use properly.
  • Using a deck log: Proper Navigation begins and ends with good records. You can't tell where to go unless you remember where you've been!
  • Practical use of navigational publications: A wealth of information exists if you know where and how to look.
  • US Sailing plotting conventions: Learn how to manage charting and logs on a small yacht with conventions that account for small nav tables and charts on laps in the cockpit!

What's Included

Here is a list of the materials that are included in your Coastal Navigation course:

US Sailing's Coastal Navigation text book

The Coastal Navigation text will be sent to you upon registration.

OCSC Coastal Navigation course handout

Homework and excerpts from nautical publications will be distributed on the first day of class.

OCSC Coastal Navigation CD-Rom

A complete set of homework solutions on CD with all plotting problems graphically presented for maximum understanding and easy review of plotting protocols. Also distributed on the first day of class.

The following charts will also be given the first day of class:

  • Chart #18649 "San Francisco Entrance"
  • Chart #18645 "Gulf of Farallones"
  • Chart #18680 "Point Sur to San Francisco"
  • Chart #1210TR -- a training chart. This chart is used for practice and also for the US Sailing test. Upon completion of the exam, this chart is kept by OCSC as part of the official exam paperwork.

Here's what you'll need to purchase:

In addition to the materials OCSC provides, you must have or acquire the following tools and items:

  • Chart # 1 -- "Nautical Chart Symbols, Abbreviations, and Terms"
  • Triangles, Parallel Rules or Course Plotter (Portland plotters are recommended)
  • Dividers (one- or two-handed version – 7” recommended)
  • Pencils (mechanical with 0.5 or 0.7 mm leads are recommended)
  • Erasers (Pentel Clic, or similar soft eraser recommended -- they are kind to charts.)
  • Calculator (capable of Base 6 calculations for time and angles)

All of the above items are available at the OCSC Pro Shop (at a 10 percent discount for club members) and at any marine supply store. If you choose to purchase from us, please call in advance of the course to purchase them so we can ship them to you or have them set aside for you to pick up.

Schedule

Availability

This course is not currently scheduled. Please email us if you are interested or call us at 510.843.4200.