COASTAL CRUISING NORTHWEST
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An intermediate-level 14-hour classroom course, with several challenging homework assignments (passage planning exercises designed to introduce the student to Puget Sound waters) addressing topics in greater depth than the introductory Oregon Boater Course. The course is "non-denominational" in that it is equally applicable to both power and sailing vessels. The course builds on the Oregon Boaters Course foundation, and is intended to be an intense prep and confidence-builder for recreational boaters desiring to cruise Pacific Northwest waters in larger "cabin class" vessels (ie, ~30 ft LOA and greater). The theme throughout is the "real life" application of essential boating knowledge. This is a "cruising course" that assumes you already know how to operate a larger vessel. It is a course that could make your life on the water, and that of your crew, considerably safer and much more enjoyable. Pre-requisite: Student should hold a Boater Education Card, or be crew/family for a Card holder.
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Coastal Cruising Texts
The following three texts are strongly RECOMMENDED, but are not required. And, they are recommended not for each student, but for each vessel represented by the students. For example, a crew of two attending the class would want to have only one copy of each of the texts to share. My objective in this is to help ensure that these valuable (and somewhat costly) references, which I have found indispensable, are present in your cruising boat's library.
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| Chapman Piloting |
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| Chart 1 |
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| Navigation Rules (COLREGS) |
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| Safety Onboard |
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| Safety Onboard
This section, among other important topics, looks at regulatory carriage requirements and additional recommended equipment, fires and prevention, galley procedures, stowage, fueling, dangerous gases, and shore power.
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| Safety Underway |
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| Safety Underway
Section examines safety concerns applicable to underway operations, including review of Rules for the Prevention of Collision at Sea, vessel lighting and marking, the "food chain" of rights on the water, cold water immersion and hypothermia, and Department of Homeland Security requirements.
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| Navigation |
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| Navigation
Introduction to principles of navigation, including using nautical charts and Chart 1 to determine route, identify lights and sounds of buoys and marks, calculating course, ETE and ETA, and considering the influence of tides and currents.
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| Weather |
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| Weather
Looks at the forces that drive weather systems in the Northwest, and introduces various weather sources online and otherwise that may be used to create a passage plan.
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| Anchoring & Mooring |
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| Anchoring & Mooring
Discusses characteristics of a safe anchorage, expands on anchoring techniques, examines various types of mooring arrangements in use in Pacific Northwest waters and methods of securing to a mooring buoy, and considers the proper way to raise anchor and to release from a mooring buoy.
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| Communications |
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| Communications
This section addresses VHF radio characteristics, limitations and usage, including channel selection for normalk communications as well as for VTS assistance and emergencies, and distress calls. An overview of offshore communications is provided, including benefits and limitations of HF radio and Satcom.
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| Pacific Northwest Cruising |
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| Electronic Navigation
A consideration of the fundamentals underlying GPS and chartplotter navigation, definition of sub-systems such as Sensors, Databases, Processing and Display, the basic use of chartplotters (not brand-specific), understanding the Wide-Area Augmentation System (WAAS), practical everyday application of tools such as "breadcrumb trails" and the "noodle", integrating radar into the picture, and an introduction to AIS.
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| Boat Handling & Docking |
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| Close Quarter Boat Handling & Docking
Introduces "the five classic questions" of boat handling, suggests handling exercises to help you get to know your boat, examines dock features such as cleats, bull rails and eyebolts, offers tricks to help you learn to, if not love prop walk, at least to seriously like it. Focus is on docking with short-handed crew (crew of two), and some valuable secrets of spring lines will be revealed.
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