The Australian Coastal Navigation Handbook

Learn to navigate with confidence - even when the GPS fails.

Master the essential skills of coastal navigation with this comprehensive, practical guide designed specifically for Australian waters. From understanding latitude and longitude, to planning complex passages and executing precise pilotage, The Australian Coastal Navigation Handbook builds your confidence through clear explanations, worked examples, and real-world scenarios.

Whether you're preparing for formal qualifications or simply want to navigate with greater competence and independance, this course covers everything you need: reading charts, using compasses, fixing positions, understanding tides, interpreting buoyage, planning passages, and integrating electronics navigational tools.

Author Tim Foster has over 40 years if sailing and navigation experience in Australian waters, from the bottom of Tasmania to the top of the Great Barrier Reef. Tim is Principal of Blue Water Sailing School in Melbourne, a RYA Yachmaster Instructor, and adult educator. He developed this course to provide practical, accessible navigation instruction specifically tailored to Australian sailors and waters.

Features

Learning Latitude, Longitude & the Nautical Mile - A guide to describing any location on earth precisely and unambiguously, as well as measuring distance and calculation distance, speed and time.

Reading a Chart - A how-to on picking up and reading nautical charts, including the symbols that mark features, depth and tide information, identifying scale and more.

The Compass, Variation & Deviation - Practical, on-the-water tips and tricks with magnetic compasses, for if your digital tools go dark.

Position Lines, Fixes, Dead Reckoning & Estimated Position - Learn to work out your exact location using visible landmarks and basic techniques.

Buoyage - An introduction to reading the language of the sea- the colours, shapes and flash patterns that allow you to navigate cardinal, lateral, isolated danger and safe water marks.

Tides & Tidal Streams - Understand the causes of tides, how to read tide tables, predicting intermediate heights and how to plan your passage around them.

Passage Planning - A good passage plan keeps you out of danger, discover route selection, timing considerations, waypoint planning and more.

Pilotage - Teaches the practical pilotage techniques of buoy hopping, transits and leading lines, clearing and back bearings, head marks, turn bearings and navigating depth contours.

Electronic Navigation - Covering GNSS (GPS), choosing the right platform for you, essential setup and settings, route planning and other digital skills.