Victoria Sailing School - Colorado's Oldest And Largest Sailing School

Celestial Navigation (ASA 107)

If you ever plan an offshore passage, this course is a must.  In today's world, as you sail past the outbound sea buoy, you will have at least one GPS with you.  However the chances are good, that at some point in the passage, the GPS systems will fail.  Time for the sextant !!

Celestial Navigation uses the Sun, Planets, Moon and Stars to determine your Latitude and Longitude.

This course explains the how and why the sextant works.

Topics covered:

1. Convert standard and zone time to GMT
2. Index error, dip and altitude correction for Sun, Moon, Stars and Planets
3. Calculate time of meridian passage of the Sun for any given Longitude
4. Observers Latitude by Sun noon or twilight Polaris sights
5. Construction of a Universal Plotting Sheet
6. Plotting of Celestial L.O.P. on a mercator projection of Universal Plotting Sheet using simultaneous sights or running sight methods
7. Calculation of times of Sunrise, Sunset, and Twilight
8. Determination of Azimuths and Altitude of navigational bodies at twilight
9. Calculation of Compass Deviation using Celestial bodies
10. Computing Great Circle routes

Each course consists of:

• Notes relating to the text and excerpts from other publications
• Questions relating to the Lectures and Notes
• Answers to course questions
• An ASA/CYA Certified exam

Cost for the 10 week course which begins Wednesday, February 10, 2010 is $309.00.

Course will run for 10 consecutive weeks, with an additional Saturday workshop for the Celestial course. The course costs include 1) the notes, 2) the right to sit the exam, 3) the certification upon successful completion, 4) as much phone time as you need with trouble spots. 

These classes are held at our classroom site, Colorado Executive Club Building

Supplies needed:

To register Store/Navigation Courses