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Four Rivers Sail & Power Squadron


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Public Courses

America's Boating Course - 3rd Edition

America's Boating Course - 3rd Edition is the latest public boating course offered by USPS to the general boating community. You may be familiar with our prior courses such as The Squadron Boating Course, Boat Smart, the original America's Boating Course, or Chart Smart.

America's Boating Course - 3rd Edition is all new with a completely updated manual, outstanding graphics, and two bonus CDs. The course manual is divided into five chapters. The first four cover the required topics that all recreational boaters must know. In addition to the rules of the road, the four chapters cover the various types of boats, required safety equipment, navigation aids, lights and sounds, anchoring, communications afloat, adverse conditions, water sports safety, trailering, personal water craft safety, and knots and lines. The fifth chapter provides an introduction to digital charts and GPS waypoint navigation, a key skill for boating on larger lakes and rivers and coastal waters. This fifth chapter is for self study; it provides the background for more advanced piloting courses.

Advanced Grade Courses

Seamanship (S): Building on the basics taught in the Boating Course, Seamanship is the recommended first course for new members, both power boaters and sailors. Students learn practical marlinespike; navigation rules; hull design and performance; duties of the skipper; boat care; operating a boat under normal and abnormal conditions; what to do in various emergencies and weather conditions; nautical cust oms; and common courtesy on the water. Piloting (P): This is the first of a two-part program studying inland and coastal navigation. It focuses on the fundamentals of piloting - keeping track of a boat's movements, determining your position at any time and laying out courses to a planned destination. Included are such subjects as: charts and their use; aids to navigation; the mariner's compass; variation and deviation of the compass; plotting and steering courses; dead reckoning; and plotting and labeling charts. Advanced Piloting (AP): This is the final part of the inland and coastal navigation series. It emphasizes the use of modern electronic navigation systems and other advanced techniques for finding position. Among topics covered are: tides and currents and their effects on piloting; finding position using bearings and angles; simple use of the mariner's sextant; and electronic navigation - radar, loran, GPS, etc. Junior Navigation (JN): This is the first of a two-part program of study in offshore (open-coast) navigation. It is designed as a practical, how-to course, leaving the theoretical and more advanced techniques for the Navigation Course. Subject matter includes: basic concepts of celestial navigation; how to use the mariner's sextant to take sights of the sun, moon, planets and stars; the importance and techniques of accurate time determination; use of the Nautical Almanac; how to reduce sights to establish lines of position (LOPs); and the use of special charts, plotting sheets and other navigational data for offshore positioning and passage planning. Navigation (N): This is the second part of the study of offshore navigation. It further develops the student's understanding of celestial theory. The student is introduced to additional sight reduction techniques and develops greater skill and precision in sight taking, positioning and the orderly methods of carrying on the day's work of a navigator at sea. Included is lifeboat-navigation, using minimal data or equipment.

ELECTIVE COURSES

Engine Maintenance (EM): This course deals with basic design and construction, operating principles maintenance and repair of gasoline and diesel engines. Various systems - fuel, electrical, cooling and lubrication - are studied. The purpose of this course is to make the student more resourceful - not a mechanic. Sail (SA): This course teaches terminology, types of rigs and hulls, signals and rules of the road, theory of sailing, balance of hull and sails, stability, true and apparent wind, points of sailing, handling, anchoring, mooring, and docking, laying up and fitting out. Marine Electronics (ME): This course contains essential knowledge about a boat's electrical and electronic systems, including wiring, grounding, electrolysis, batteries and their care. Also covered are depth finders, marine radio telephones, radar, Loran, GPS, and other electronic positioning systems. Weather (W): This course teaches an awareness of weather phenomena, how to read a weather map and the sky, and how to understand and anticipate weather developments. The atmosphere and its characteristics; global weather and other factors that affect forecasting are studied as well as clouds, air masses, fronts, storms and fog. Cruise Planning (CP): This course encompasses the data from all of the courses as applied to planning for and actually going on a cruise. Topics include equipping a cruising boat; selecting the crew; provisioning; managing a voyage; clearing foreign ports; emergencies afloat; and security measures.

USPS University has programs targeted to a range of boaters and types of boating. The hallmark of this concept is the seminar series. These short seminars are targeted to specific topics and needs with a two-hour format in most cases, and valuable take-away guides. Many seminars provide credits toward the Boat Operator Certification program. These seminars are available now- click on links below for more information. 		Click Here For Free Vessel Safety

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