Practical Navigation

This comprehensive and authoritative guide to practical navigation draws on the author’s extensive experience of leisure cruising and ocean racing. It combines detailed directions on how to navigate along coasts, in harbours, at night and in bad weather with easy-to-understand technical information about the electronic tools involved in safe navigation, including radar, GPS, AIS and chart plotters. Key basics such as charts, buoys, lights and tides are carefully explained and illustrated with diagrams and colour photographs throughout. Practical descriptions of navigation scenarios, such as fixing a position or plotting a course, are brought to life with anecdotes and precise detail. An indispensable reference guide for anyone wishing to sail or motor a boat safely in any situation.

The aspiring Officer of the Watch can now achieve certification through NVQ or SVQ unit achievement ratified by MSA oral examination. This new publication, which replaces Practical Navigation for Second Mates and Principals and Practices of Navigation, has been extended in scope to reflect these changes.