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Study coastal navigation aboard the historic Big Red Lightship in Jersey City. Over four intensive classroom days you’ll master chart plotting, tides, currents, and the skills needed for safe coastal passages.
Study coastal navigation aboard the historic Big Red Lightship in Jersey City. Over four intensive classroom days you’ll master chart plotting, tides, currents, and the skills needed for safe coastal passages.
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Operated by True North Sailing Center · Jersey City, New Jersey
On the weathered deck of the Big Red Lightship moored off Jersey City, ASA 105 Coastal Navigation teaches practical seamanship without ever leaving the dock. This four-day, classroom-only course — held over two consecutive weekends in Jersey City, New Jersey — compresses traditional chart work, position fixing, and modern electronic navigation into intensive, hands-on lessons that turn nervous day-sailors into confident coastal pilots.
The course opens with nautical charts and symbols, moving through compass work, plotting courses with dividers and plotters, and learning to correct for variation and deviation. Students practice dead reckoning and position fixing, then add tides, currents, and weather interpretation into voyage planning. In the final sessions, GPS and electronic navigation are tied back to paper charts and the ASA 105 exam assesses the skills you need to plan safe coastal passages. Class runs 9:00 AM–4:00 PM on each of four days and accepts students ages 14 and up.
What makes this course feel like a local institution is the setting: instruction aboard the Big Red Lightship gives every diagram and plotted course a kinetic context. Chart tables, dividers, and a view toward the working waterways make the material immediate and relevant. The curriculum emphasizes aids to navigation — buoys, lights, and daymarks — and practical interpretation of tides and current patterns that govern nearby coastal waters, so you graduate with route-planning skills, not just textbook knowledge.
The class is ideal for new skippers preparing to cruise coastal waters, sailors brushing up before a delivery, or landlubbers curious about the navigation behind safe boating. No prior certification is required; successful students earn ASA 105 Coastal Navigation certification. Group sizes are kept to a level where instructors can review individual plotting and answer route-planning questions.
Practical tips: arrive ready to write and measure—bring pencils and a hard-backed notebook—and expect focused, cognitive work rather than physical exertion. Because the course sits at the intersection of traditional seamanship and modern electronics, students leave able to cross-reference GPS readouts with chart work, interpret tide tables, and choose safer passages under changing weather.
Classes are intentionally limited to 16 students per section to maximize hands-on plotting time and instructor feedback. Check-in takes place aboard the Big Red Lightship, and students receive directions via confirmation email. Beyond personal skill, this course plugs into Jersey City's maritime character: it strengthens local boating safety, supports stewardship of the working waterfront, and connects land-based learners to the seasonal rhythms of tides, currents, and coastal weather that define this shore.
No. This is a classroom-only ASA 105 course held aboard the Big Red Lightship; there is no hands-on sailing time included.
Students must be at least 14 years old to enroll in ASA 105 Coastal Navigation.
No prior certification is required. Basic comfort with numbers and maps helps, but the course begins at an introductory level.
Each session runs from 9:00 AM–4:00 PM on four days across two consecutive weekends.
Upon successful completion you earn the ASA 105 Coastal Navigation certification.
Sections are limited to 16 people to allow instructor feedback and hands-on plotting practice.
True North Sailing Center is a sailing school and training provider based in South Brunswick Township, New Jersey, offering American Sailing Association (ASA) certification courses and practical on-water instruction. The center focuses on small-group, hands-on training for sailors at beginner to intermediate levels, with courses held in and around New York Harbor and coastal waters. Instruction includes classroom and on-water formats—weekday, weeknight classroom with weekend on-water, and multi-day cruising courses—to meet different schedules and learning preferences. Courses taught include ASA 101 Basic Keelboat Sailing in weekday and combined weeknight/classroom plus weekend on-water formats, ASA 103 Coastal Cruising aboard 42-foot yachts, and ASA 105 Coastal Navigation emphasizing traditional chart skills and modern GPS over four days. Each program covers boat handling, sail trim, docking, navigation, safety, and local tide and current awareness. Certified instructors use a mix of hands-on practice, real-world coastal scenarios, and regulated ASA curriculum to prepare students for safe, confident sailing. The center emphasizes practical decision-making, seamanship, and route planning tailored to New York Harbor and nearby coastal waters. Training vessels and practical exercises mirror conditions students will face as they progress to skipper responsibilities. True North Sailing Center maintains a clear focus on credentialed instruction and verifiable ASA course content, making it a reliable choice for sailors seeking ASA certifications and practical coastal sailing experience in New Jersey and New York Harbor waters. Locations for classroom sessions and on-water training are scheduled to accommodate commuters and regional students across New Jersey and New York.
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