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Recommended coastal navigation books?

6K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  CarbonSink62 
#1 ·
Mr. cthoops (aka Pegu Club) and I just purchased our first sailboat - whee!

We will be sailing this summer in a completely unfamiliar area for us. We took the ASA 101 class last summer and it touched on charts, but we want to learn how to really understand them, how to figure out exactly where we are on the chart, etc. The last thing we want to do is hit a rock on our first outing - and in Long Island Sound there are plenty of those!

We could take the ASA Coastal Navigation course but budget is an issue right now - after all, did I mention we just bought a boat? :)

Any good books that you can recommend that we could read to teach ourselves?

Thanks!
 
#6 ·
Chapman's. Chapman piloting and seamanship 66th edition is the title to be exact. Buy a used one from a few editions ago and it'll be just fine. The fundamentals haven't changed.

While not exactly a how-to, it does tell you how to navigate and it is THE reference by which all others are judged. Every boat should have a copy, and even if it's navigation chapters don't teach you the art of navigation you will use it frequently for reference to look up questions you have from your courses or other books.



There is also a free PDF version here, but every boat SHOULD have a hard copy.
 
#7 ·
#9 ·
US Power and Sail Squadron courses are usually reasonable and will provide a good basic introduction to piloting and charting.
 
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