Advanced Courses
America’s Boating Club Wilmington offers educational courses to its members in two general categories: Advanced Grades and Elective Courses. Additional information relating to any of the following courses is available to membership through the ABC Education Department. It is important to note that the form of study materials may be offered in printed or electronic formats. The squadron SEO can offer you guidance in your course selection.The Advanced Courses listed below are for members of the United States Power Squadrons ®. Click here to find out how to join ABC-Wilmington.

Boat Handling (S)

- Rules of the Road—A Practical Approach - Confidence in Docking and Unlocking—Slow Speed Maneuvering - Boating with Confidence—Handling Your Boat Underway - Anchoring With Assurance—Don’t Get Carried Away - Emergencies on Board—Preparation for Handling Common Problems - Knots and Line Handling—The Knots You Need to Know The course can be managed as a single course, or as a series of individually scheduled seminars at the convenience and interest of students and instructors.  A Boat Handling exam will be ordered when the student has completed all six seminars and the Seaman grade will be awarded on the students passing grade.

Marine Navigation (P)

The Marine Navigation course is the first in the sequence of USPS® courses on navigation, covering the basics of coastal and inland navigation. This course focuses on navigation as it is done on recreational boats today and embraces GPS as a primary navigation tool while covering enough of traditional techniques so the student will be able to find his/her way even if their GPS fails. The course includes many in-class exercises, developing the student’s skills through hands-on practice and learning.
Topics covered include:
  • Charts and their interpretation
  • Navigation aids and how they point to safe water
  • Plotting courses and determining direction and distance
  • The mariner’s compass and converting between True and Magnetic
  • Use of GPS – typical GPS displays and information they provide, setting up waypoints and routes, staying on a GPS route 
  • Pre-planning safe courses and entering them into the GPS
  • Monitoring progress and determining position by both GPS and traditional techniques such as bearings and dead reckoning
  • The “Seaman’s Eye” – simple skills for checking that one is on course.
Students have seven days to complete an open book exam..

Advanced Marine Navigation (AP)

Advanced Marine Navigation, previously the Advanced Piloting course, is the second in the sequence of USPS® courses on navigation. It continues to build coastal and inland navigation skill, allowing the student to take on more challenging conditions – unfamiliar waters, limited visibility, and extended cruises. GPS is embraced as a primary navigation tool while adding radar, chartplotters, and other electronic navigation tools. As with Marine Navigation, the course includes many in-class exercises, advancing the student’s skills through hands-on practice and learning.
Topics covered include:
  • Review of skills learned in Piloting
  • Advanced positioning techniques such as advancing a line of position
  • Other electronics: radar, depth sounders, autopilots, chartplotters, laptop computer software, etc.
  • Hazard avoidance techniques using electronics
  • Collision avoidance using radar and GPS
  • Working with tides: clearances, depth, effects of current
  • Piloting with wind and currents
  • The “Seaman’s Eye” – simple skills for checking that one is on course
Students have seven days to complete an open book exam..

Offshore Navigation (JN)

Offshore Navigation is the first in a two-part program of study in offshore navigation followed by the Celestial Navigation course. It is designed as a practical "how to" course.
Topics covered include:
  • Precise time determination
  • Use of the Nautical Almanac
  • Taking sextant sights of the sun
  • Reducing sights to establish lines of position
  • Special charts and plotting sheets for offshore navigation
  • Offshore navigational routines for recreational craft
The student will continue to use GPS as the primary position sensor, however, the offshore environment poses many different elements for consideration by the Navigator. Visible terrestrial landmarks are no longer available as reference. The principles learned in Advanced Marine Navigation and plot a running fix from two sun sights taken about four hours apart. Once the student has learned the basics of celestial sight reduction, the course continues with planning, positioning, and checking one’s position in the offshore environment, using both electronic and celestial tools. There are two examination elements for the Offshore Navigation Course, the Sight Folder, graded at the squadron level, and an Open Book Exam graded by headquarters.
Celestial Navigation (N)
Celestial Navigation is the second part of the study of offshore navigation, further developing the student's understanding of celestial navigation theory.  This Navigation course deals with learning celestial positioning using other bodies, in addition to positioning using the sun (covered in the Offshore Navigation course). This course also deals with electronic software tools that can be used to plan and execute an offshore voyage. You will first learn to reduce these sights by the Law of Cosines method. Later in the course you will learn an additional method of sight reduction, the Nautical Almanac Sight Reduction (NASR) method. You will also learn about sight planning techniques. With that knowledge, you will have the tools to take sights and complete your Celestial Navigation Sight Folder. The course includes a chapter on using a software-based voyage planning tool and a navigation program. The final chapter of the course contains a Practice Cruise that ties the separate elements of the course together.
Chapter 1. A View of our Solar System Chapter 2. Sunrise...Sunset Chapter 3. Taking Sights and Finding Ho, LHA, and Dec. Chapter 4. Sight Reduction and Plotting by the Law of Cosines Chapter 5. Sight Reduction and Plotting by NASR method Chapter 6. Sight Planning Chapter 7. Emergency Navigation Chapter 8. Electronics and Software for Offshore Navigation Chapter 9. Underway
The Practice Cruise is an excellent preparation for the open book exam. There are two exam elements for this course, the Sight Folder and an Open Book Exam, both graded by the Offshore Navigation Committee.  There is no set order for completion of the Sight Folder and Exam