One of the main goals of
USPS is “safe
boating through education”. During the
past year, USPS course graduates have continued to have significantly
fewer incidents
on the water, than other groups.
In addition to its public education program, USPS teaches a series of
outstanding members-only courses that cover advanced seamanship,
navigational
techniques, and boat handling, maintenance, and enhancement topics.
Learn how
to become a member of USPS and take any or all of these courses.
Five Advanced Grade
courses are
offered by USPS. They are designed to be
taken in sequence because each builds on skills taught in the previous
course.
- Seamanship
(S): covers basic
deck seamanship, marlinspike (knots and ropes), anchoring and rafting,
basic
boat care and maintenance, and nautical and USPS customs and etiquette.
- Piloting
(P): is
the first and most basic navigation
course, covering chart reading, course plotting, and basic coastal or
inland
navigation, including basic GPS usage. This course goes into more
detail than
the charting information covered in the public courses.
- Advanced
Piloting (AP): covers more advanced coastal navigation techniques,
navigation in tides and currents, and more advanced GPS usage.
- Junior
Navigation (JN):
teaches the basics of offshore navigation, including basic celestial
navigation
using the sun and offshore course planning.
- Navigation
(N): is the most
advanced navigation course taught by USPS, covering more advanced
celestial
navigation techniques, emergency navigation, and additional sight
reduction
techniques.
