Training centers provide two basic types of Celestial Navigation courses. There is a short training for Yacht Masters and a fully-fledged course for professional mariners upgrading their qualification from coastal to 500 GRT or more or ‘all oceans’. The latter courses comply with the Table A II/1 of the STCW Convention and takes from 2 to 3 weeks.

Objective:

The objective of the both kinds of Celestial Navigation courses is to introduce participants to the theory and practice of position fixing by celestial bodies. The syllabus of the course includes nautical astronomy, use of sextant, identification of stars, navigation with the help of Mercator, gnomonic charts, etc.

Course content:

• Using celestial bodies to fix position;
• Knowledge of stars, identification and selection;
• Use of sextant and compass, necessary corrections;
• Altitude of the Sun and other stars;
• Fixing the position with the help of Polaris;
• Determination of sunrise and sunset time for the vessel’s time zone;
• Parallel, mid-latitude and Mercator navigational issues;
• Great circle sailing problem;
• Gnomonic charts as an instrument for voyage planning;
• IALA-A system;
• Dead reckoning taking into account ocean currents, winds and tides.

 Assessment: Professional mariners’ course includes a written assessment; whilst Yacht Master short Celestial Navigation training presupposes online test and oral examination within a year after that.

Note: Deck officers wishing to upgrade their navigational capabilities might choose Celestial Navigation – Advanced (Management Level) training.

Target Audience: OOW, Yacht Masters and mates.

Pre-requisites: OOW or other CoC.

Duration: 2 – 21 days.

Training Centers Offering This Course

USA (7)

Fairhaven, Massachusetts, us

Fort Lauderdale, FL, us

Hayes, W Virginia, us

Jacksonville, Fl, us

Norfolk, W Virginia, us