this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2026
6 points (100.0% liked)

Sailing

1082 readers
1 users here now

General

Welcome! This is a place to discuss sailing, all sailing related questions and share sailing images.

Please post freely about sailing and comment generously. User adoption and use is the boon which will inspire more users to join!

Known Issues

Posts created in portrait mode automatically rotate to landscape mode. This is something across Lemmy that seems to be known. To address, the image must have the correct metadata, not just rotated in your camera roll before uploading.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

@sailing One of my goals for this year involves getting my SailCan coastal navigation + intermediate cruising certifications. Do any of you folks have advice on resources for learning the coastal nav stuff? I've heard that the "official" book & test is a bit of a mess. Incorrect info, incorrect *answers*. Looking for an improvement over that.

#sailing

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] mlanger@mastodon.world 1 points 4 months ago (7 children)

@kboyd @sailing My experience with boating certifications is that they are money grab. Companies create certifications. They charge instructors to get certified to teach them. They charge students to get certified. The source company makes and sells training material of average quality and doesn't make sure that their testing materials have just one correct answer per question. This has been my experience with the power boat division of American Sailing, American Boating.

[–] kboyd@phpc.social 1 points 4 months ago (6 children)

@mlanger @sailing yeah, but it's a skill I want (coastal nav) in addition to often being a requirement for bareboat chartering. Just looking to see if there are proven resources for learning it for real, not just to satisfy an exam.

[–] bhhaskin@social.bitsofsimplicity.com 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

@kboyd @mlanger @sailing yeah insurance companies require it if you want to charter bareboat. Oddly enough they don't care if it's your own boat.

[–] mlanger@mastodon.world 1 points 4 months ago

@bhhaskin @kboyd @sailing It's the bareboat company's insurance company that requires it. If you knew what charter guests got into, you'd understand why. Even after "certification," they still do damage to the boats.

I went from a 17 foot jet boat to a 32 foot trawler and really thought I was going to have trouble getting insurance. But no, I had no trouble getting it. And nowadays I think my USCG captains license would be enough "certification" to charter a boat.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)