SQUADRON TRAINING PLAN

(NOTE: Login to the Member website before clicking on the links above to see a complete list of courses and

seminars offered by America's Boating Club)

SQUADRON EDUCATION OFFICER: Lt/C John Torres, AP

Questions about Registration or see a course that interests you???... Contact:

SQUADRON EDUCATION OFFICER

Lt/C John Torres, AP

educationofficer@abcsomd.org

**Click here to Locate the Nearest USPS Courses or Seminars by Zip code **

Boat Handling (formerly Seamanship): < click for details

The 2019 Boat Handling Course and Seminar Series is now available. The new curriculum comprises a full six-part course and six seminars:

    - Rules of the Road: A Practical Approach
    - Confidence in Docking and Undocking: Slow-Speed Maneuvering
    - Boating with Confidence: Handling Your Boat Underway
    - Anchoring with Assurance: Don't Get Carried Away
    - Emergencies on Board: Preparation to Handle Common Problems
    - Knots and Line Handling: The Knots You Need to Know

Marine Navigation (Formerly Piloting): <click for details

Learn the essentials of safe coastal and inland navigation using basic GPS in conjunction with charts and other marine data. The Marine Navigation course teaches you how to use the GPS along with traditional dead reckoning techniques for planning and laying out safe routes, as well as ensuring that you are on-course while underway.

Advanced Marine Navigation (formerly Advanced Piloting): < click for details

Do you want to navigate unfamiliar waters in limited visibility or take an extended cruise with confidence? Learn to use radar, chart plotters, AIS and other electronic tools to supplement basic GPS navigation. Obtain a thorough understanding of piloting techniques in a variety of coastal tide, current and wind conditions.

Offshore Navigation (formerly Junior Navigation): <click for details

What happens when your GPS fails? Have fun and satisfy your curiosity about boating in the days before electronics in the Junior Navigation course. Learn to use a marine sextant to take sights on celestial objects such as the sun. Even if you are not traveling long distances off shore, remember that GPS is not infallible, nor always available. Be confident when no aids to navigation or land objects are in sight.

In Offshore Navigation, you will continue to use GPS as the primary position sensor as you learned in Marine Navigation and Advanced Marine Navigation, but with celestial navigation as your backup technique. Because terrestrial landmarks are no longer visible to the offshore navigator, you will learn to use a marine sextant and the sun as your reference point, derive a line of position, and develop a running fix. You will also learn to calculate your latitude from a noon sight on the sun.

Celestial Navigation (formerly Navigation): <click for details

Learn navigation using all the celestial bodies! Use navigational software tools to plan and execute an offshore voyage. In the event of a loss of electronics on board, you’ll be glad you took this course and developed the necessary backup skills for an offshore voyage. Even if you have no plans to travel offshore, you will be able to impress your boating friends with your depth of celestial knowledge.

The Celestial Navigation course will teach you how to use the moon, planets, and stars to determine your position at morning and evening twilight to supplement daytime sights on the sun, moon, and bright planets. You will also get access to and use navigational software tools that can be used to plan and execute any voyage.

Engine Maintenance: <click for details

The new Engine Maintenance course 2011 has been put into one ten chapter course that stresses the diagnosis of modern systems, while also teaching the basics of engine layout and operation. Gasoline inboards, outboards, and diesel engines are taught in a way that reinforces the common aspects of how engines work. This new course is complete in one book with one exam.

Modern engines offer high reliability and good performance through the use of computerized systems for fuel delivery and engine timing. Most of these systems are “black boxes” that can no longer be serviced by weekend mechanics with ordinary tools. The EM course covers those repairs that do-it-yourselfers can still perform, teaches how to diagnose problems that might be beyond your ability to fix, and how to share information with your mechanic so the right repairs get performed. The new Engine Maintenance course also covers basic mechanical systems such as drive systems (propellers), steering systems, and engine controls. The last chapter discusses solutions you might use to problems that could occur while afloat and away from a repair facility. Gasoline, diesel, and outboard engines are treated independently in this chapter.