Basic Coastal Navigation: An Introduction to Piloting

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and thoroughly-accessible.
Review: "Basic Coastal Navigation" is a comprehensive and thoroughly-accessible guide to piloting small sail and power boats.

Written in a self-instruction format with exercises, questions, and answers included in each chapter, the book offers step-by-step coverage of what sometimes can be a daunting subject.

Frank J. Larkin takes care to write in a simple (but never dry) prose style, using easy-to-understand terms. Also, the book's layout is superb: There's lots of white space, large graphics, and varying font sizes and shadings.

Larkin also includes helpful memory aids, such as "Lat is Flat" for Latitude and--for a Black-Topped/White Buoy, which indicates an obstruction--"Think of the black top as a storm such as a Nor'easter."

The author covers everything from nautical charts and plotting true courses to dead reckoning and electronic navigation systems (including GPS).

All sea-persons with small boats--whether power or sail--should purchase this book.

Rating:
Summary: Basic Coastal Navigation: An Introduction to Piloting
Review: This is a basic introductory textbook for readers who have no previous training in navigation or piloting. The explanations are simple and clear. The author provides questions and answers at the end of each chapter, plus exercises in such skills as plotting a course. Appendices describe detailed procedures and forms that facilitate a navigator's work. The book's large format makes it easy for the reader to follow both text and illustrations. This useful book could be used either for training oneself or as the text for an introductory class. Michael Michaud, Vienna, Austria

Rating:
Summary: Basic Coastal Navigation: An Introduction to Piloting
Review: This is a basic introductory textbook for readers who have no previous training in navigation or piloting. The explanations are simple and clear. The author provides questions and answers at the end of each chapter, plus exercises in such skills as plotting a course. Appendices describe detailed procedures and forms that facilitate a navigator's work. The book's large format makes it easy for the reader to follow both text and illustrations. This useful book could be used either for training oneself or as the text for an introductory class. Michael Michaud, Vienna, Austria