Navigating on a charter: what the skipper does

What a charter skipper navigates with

Step aboard almost any charter yacht and the navigation kit is the same. The chart plotter at the helm shows the electronic chart with your position, speed and track on it. A paper chart of the cruising area lives in the saloon, often with a pilot book that has a page for every harbour and bay. Most crews add a tablet or phone with a charting app as a second opinion. Round the boat are the instruments that feed all of this: the depth sounder, the log (your speed through the water) and the wind instruments.

Three jobs: plan, track, arrive

Navigating a charter comes down to three jobs, and every lesson in this course serves one of them:

1. Plan, before the lines come off: where you are going, how far it is, how long it will take, what the weather is doing, and where you will stop if it goes wrong.
2. Track, on the way: knowing where you are, what is around you and whether you are still on the plan.
3. Arrive, into a harbour or bay: reading the marks, watching the depth, and getting into the berth or onto the anchor without drama.

Most charter trouble happens on arrival, in the last mile, in the afternoon. The plan you make in the morning is what keeps that mile calm.

The plotter is one source, not the only one

The plotter is superb and you should use it all day. It is also a screen, and a screen can be wrong without looking wrong: the chart in it may be years old, a setting may be off, a signal may be lost at the moment you need it. So treat the plotter as one witness and cross-examine it with the others:

• Your eyes. Does the headland, the buoy and the colour of the water match what the screen says?
• The depth sounder. If the chart says eight metres and the sounder says three, believe the sounder and slow down.
• The paper chart. Keep it open to the day's page, and put a pencil cross on it every hour or so with the time. If the plotter dies, you know where you were.

The chart: a map of the sea

A land map shows roads and towns; a chart shows what matters to a boat: the depth of the water, the dangers under it, and the buoys, lights and landmarks you can use to find your way. Inland it shows only what you can see from the sea, such as a church tower or a hill.

Throughout the course you will use one practice chart of a fictional island, the Isle of Kerran. It is drawn with real chart conventions, so everything you learn on it transfers to the charts on your charter yacht.

The five-minute morning plan

Every morning, before you leave, answer five questions with the chart and the pilot book open. It takes five minutes and it is the whole secret.

1. Where are we going, and how far is it? Measure it on the chart or the plotter.
2. How long will it take? At six knots, a mile takes ten minutes. Lesson 3 makes this exact.
3. Which way is the wind, and what is the forecast? Upwind takes longer and is rougher; a rising wind in the afternoon changes the plan.
4. Where do we stop if it goes wrong? A bay or harbour on the way that you could reach if someone is seasick or the wind builds.
5. What does the pilot book say about getting in? The approach, the dangers, where to berth or anchor, and whether to call ahead.

Who does what on board

Share the jobs. One person helms. One keeps an eye on the plotter and the paper chart. One is the lookout: other boats, the marks, the colour of the water, the depth. Swap round through the week so everyone can do each job. If you have a professional skipper, they will navigate, but a crew who understand the plan, and can see the next mark before the skipper points at it, have a far better week.

How this course works

Twelve lessons and a final quiz, in the order a first-time skipper meets things: the kit and the chart first, then bearings, buoyage and lights, then harbours, anchoring and the rules of the road, and finally weather and the week's plan. Every lesson has the same four parts:

1. Watch the narrated walkthrough at the top of the page, with captions or the transcript.
2. Read these notes at your own pace. The key terms are summarised at the end.
3. Try the interactive charts and tools.
4. Practise with the exercises. They are marked instantly, and the practice sets give you fresh questions each time.

This course is independent training material by Nautical Nomads. It is not accredited by the RYA or any other body and does not lead to a qualification. Charter companies set their own requirements for bareboat skippers.