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.

Elective Courses

Several Elective Courses are offered by USPS.  They cover independent topics and therefore may be taken in any order according to members interests.

-  Engine Maintenance covers the operating principles and basic care and maintenance of outboard and inboard engines, including diesels.

-  Marine Electronics covers installation and maintenance of both boat electrical systems (AC and DC) and marine electronics (VHF radio, radar, GPS, etc).

-  Cruise Planning covers topics of interest for someone planning a cruise – whether for just a weekend or for a year – including preparation and planning, anchoring, security, chartering, and cruising outside the US.

-  Weather covers weather forecasting and reading weather patterns on-board.

-  Sail covers everything from the basic elements of how a sailboat works to sail trim, rig tuning, and sailboat racing.

-  Celestial Navigation covers the use of tools like sextants to narrow your position using the stars and planets.

-  Instructor Development teaches effective communication skills for not only USPS instructors but everyone, covering various methods of presenting information to others, effective use of audiovisual aids (including PowerPoint), etc.

Members

Please let our Course Registrar know what classes you are interested in, so that we can schedule them.  You will find this information in the paper version of The Skipper's Log.