Buoyage, charts, the compass, position fixing and chartwork — the coastal navigation that Day Skipper-level theory examines.
Coastal navigation is a small set of skills that build on each other: reading the chart, recognising buoyage, converting between true, magnetic and compass, fixing your position, and working up a course to steer. These guides cover each one with worked examples and diagrams.
They follow the conventions used at Day Skipper level — IALA buoyage (with Region A/B differences flagged), depths in metres below chart datum, and bearings in degrees true unless marked otherwise.
Ready to test yourself? The Day Skipper Theory, Actually Explained course turns these topics into 1,000+ practice questions with explanations.
Navigation
The title block, scale, latitude and longitude scales, soundings and drying heights, depth contours, seabed types, hazards, buoys, light descriptions and the compass rose — using a labelled educational chart extract.
10 min read
Navigation
Red to port or red right returning? How the two IALA buoyage regions differ, what “direction of buoyage” really means, preferred-channel marks, and the marks that are identical everywhere — with a side-by-side diagram.
9 min read
Navigation
North, east, south, west cardinal buoys explained — what the two cones mean, why the black bands follow the cones, the clock-face trick for the light rhythms, and how to use them without shaving the danger.
6 min read
Navigation
The difference between navigation and pilotage, what goes into a pilotage plan — marks, transits, clearing bearings, depths, tides and the point of no return — and how to run the plan from the cockpit without a chart table.
8 min read
Navigation
How to fix your position from compass bearings of charted objects, why a transit is the best position line you can get, what a cocked hat means, how to use a depth contour or a range as a position line, and how to cross-check GPS.
8 min read
Navigation
What variation and deviation are, where each comes from, how to read variation from the compass rose and deviation from the card, and a conversion method you can apply the same way every time — with worked examples.
7 min read
Navigation
How positions are written and plotted, why one minute of latitude is one nautical mile, why you never measure distance on the longitude scale, and how to use dividers and a plotter on a Mercator chart.
6 min read
Navigation
The two chartwork constructions that use a tidal stream vector — the estimated position (where am I?) and the course to steer (where should I point?) — why they are drawn in different orders, how leeway fits in, and a worked example of each.
9 min read
