Irish National Sailing School
Coastal Navigation for Small Boats
The Coastal Navigation for Small Boats course is a short theory course that is ideal for powerboaters. The course is certified by Irish Sailing and will teach you all the fundamental navigational skills needed to safely operate a powerboat on longer trips away from base.
This course satisfies the navigation and theory pre-requisites for the Irish Sailing Intermediate Powerboat Certificate and Irish Sailing Advanced Powerboat Certificate.
What you’ll be able to do
- Interpret Weather forecasts, source information and plan accordingly
- Chartwork; identify distances, plot positions, determine course to steer and more
- Understand how to utilise electronic aids to navigation; GPS, Electronic Chart Plotter and more
- Calculate tidal heights
- Identify Buoyage at both day and night
- Prepare detailed passage plans, using charts, interpreting the effect of tide and weather
- Understand and comply with IRPCS
The course fee of €190 includes all provided course materials.
Our cancellation policy for this course can be viewed here.
Course Dates 2026
Courses run on dates and times indicated below.
- Course 1: Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th January (9.30am-5pm each day)
- Course 2: Tuesday 29th September, Tuesday 6th, Tuesday 13th & Tuesday 20th October (6.30pm-9.30pm each evening)
