Irish National Sailing School
Coastal Navigation for Small Boats
Overview
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 fees are €190, including all course materials.
Our cancellation policy for this course can be viewed here.
Course Dates 2024
Courses run on dates and times indicated below.
- Course 1: Saturday 13th and Saturday 20th January (10am-5pm both Saturdays)
- Course 2: Tuesday 12th, Thursday 14th, Tuesday 19th and Thursday 21st March (6pm-9.30pm each evening)
- Course 3: Saturday 22nd and Saturday 29th June (10am-5pm both Saturdays)
- Course 4: Tuesday 17th, Thursday 19th, Tuesday 24th and Thursday 26th September (6pm-9.30pm each evening)
-
Amazing! Well worth it and I enjoyed every bit of it! - Firstly, Jess (our instructor) was amazing! I was a bit nervous starting this course as I didn't know what to expect but Jess made it so easy to understand everything and I absolutely, thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it! As a result, I'll be booking more courses with them soon.
I think the school is excellent, the structure of the courses are excellent and the instructors are very very good at what they do and I just want to thank Jess and everyone else involved for not only making it an excellent weekend but also giving me an interest in something that I want to stick with for the rest of my life!
If there were 100 stars to choose from instead of just 5, I'd choose 110 ;)
12/09/2022 -
Competent Crew Course - Excellent Instructor - Having done a few courses with the INSS over the summer of 2023, and some sailing on the Mediterranean, doing the Competent Crew course with others who were doing the Day Skipper course at the same time was the highlight of my time learning how to sail. The reason it was the highlight was largely due to the course instructor Shona O'Dowd (I made certain to get her full name before leaving to give her the credit she deserved). Huge knowledge and experience mixed with a great attitude, with friendliness, patience and approachability making Shona stand out and make each day of the course something to look forward to regardless of weather or experience level. Shona guided practical use of all facets of sailing knowledge excellently and never micromanaged or tried to exert too much control, thereby never limiting the learning that can take place for students.
This teaching style is difficult to find, having seen a variety of instructors and their styles, in different countries and even within the INSS, and so you will be very lucky if you get Shona on your boat when it comes your turn to learn the ropes (literally). All in all, the Competent Crew course was very enjoyable, and I just wanted to give credit where it was due.
20/08/2023