General Description

Efficient search and rescue response requires a great deal of planning and evaluating. It requires the SAR team based in the Rescue Coordination Centre to maintain an overview of proceedings and to be able to communicate clearly and succinctly with seafarers and airmen alike. A great deal of the work is heavily dependent upon knowledge and experience of seamanship, including chart work and navigation. This course will give a solid foundation in both these areas, thus enabling SAR Officers to communicate with their peers in a meaningful way, as well as being able to deliver accurate and timely chart plots representing unfolding SAR scenarios at sea.

Course Aim

The chart work and navigation course aims to give students a thorough understanding of the theory of plotting on a nautical chart as well as developing the understanding required to communicate with others about standard navigational terminology and techniques. By the end of the course the student will have demonstrated their skills through participation in a number of practical exercises.

Prerequisite Knowledge or qualifications

There is NO prerequisite knowledge or skills required for this course, although a basic experience of the maritime environment will be of benefit.
The course will be delivered using the English Language, and students should be orally fluent in its use. With proper notice, it may be possible to organise an interpreter service should the client deem this necessary.

Target Audience

This course is designed for Rescue Centre staff who are relatively new to the marine environment and have not benefitted from previous STCW study for seafarers. It will often prove a useful refresher course for STCW qualified watch keepers, and with the added advantage of studying the subjects in the context of SAR.

Detailed Course Content

• Maritime language
• International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea
• AIS/VTS systems
• IALA buoyage
• Ship types
• Casualty culture leisure and commercial
• Safety equipment at sea
• Navigation warning and weather forecasting services
• Dead reckoning
• Tide and leeway
• Estimated position
• Running fix
• Position fixing
  • Visual fix
  • Radar fix
  • Celestial fix
  • GPS fix
• Accuracy of position fixing
• Time/distance/speed
• Route and passage planning
• Compass work
• Tidal theory
• Sunrise/Sunset and twilight calculations
• Chart projections
• Chart symbols
• Chart instruments
• Plotting symbols and reading the chart
• Plotting positions
• Laying off bearings
• Measuring distance