The Sunshine Coast Power and Sail Squadron (SCPSS) is offering a course in celestial navigation.
If you plan to go offshore in a small boat, one of the fundamental rules is that you must be prepared to take care of yourself in any contingency. You must be self-reliant. Anything electrical is vulnerable after some time in salt air, especially when it is being jarred, bumped, banged and dropped.
To be self-reliant, we need some dependable means of navigation, and celestial is that. A handheld GPS and spare batteries stuffed into a well-protected vacuum sealed bag is a pretty good backup these days, but it is not at all bullet proof. Batteries of any kind are not perpetual. One could even argue that the durability of handheld GPS is not improving at all with time. They are getting cheaper and have more functions but no evidence of more dependability.
Beyond the likelihood of not having GPS when you need it, still a very small probability, learning celestial navigation is a most rewarding venture. There is a wonderful intellectual satisfaction that comes from learning and practising this centuries old system.
With a simple and relatively inexpensive device – a sextant – as well as some reference tables, you will be able to determine your own global position.
And it’s fun!
The celestial navigation course being offered by the SCPSS includes a total of 15 hours of theory and practical learning. Contact Jim Forward for details at 604-741-2253, or email [email protected]
The SCPSS will also have a boating skills virtual trainer available for the public to try. It will be at Trail Bay Mall in Sechelt from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 4, and at Sunnycrest Mall in Gibsons on Saturday, March 11. The trainer is a computerised simulator that can be programmed to include boat speed, wind and current. Docking, anchoring and running a slalom course are some of the possibilities. Volunteer squadron members will be on hand to provide explanations and talk about continuous training courses they provide on the Coast.
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