International Cruising Boat Expo, June 2-7, 2015, Brewer Essex Island Marina, Essex, Connecticut

Nothing instills more confdence on the water than a proven expertise in navigation. And that means more than knowing how to follow a course line on a chart plotter. The expo features an all-day seminar that will provide would-be mariners with a solid foundation in the art of navigation, as taught by two of the most knowledgeable instructors we know–PassageMaker Electronics Editor Ben Ellison and Peter Trogdon of Weems & Plath. 

The name of the seminar is “Soup-to-Nuts Navigation.” Attendees will learn how charts are made and how to read them. Ellison and Trogdon will take the class through a hands-on session on paper charts using plotting instruments provided by Weems & Plath. Attendees get to keep the instruments. 

They also get to tour Gizmo, Ellison’s foating test platform. She’s a 37 Dufy bristling with technology, a unique craft that allows cross-platform comparisons. 

These navigation exercises not only instill situational awareness on the water and form the basis for understanding electronic navigation, but are requisite for anyone seeking to pass a Coast Guard examination for a captain’s license. 

International Cruising Boat Expo, an event in the tradition of PassageMaker’s TrawlerFest series, will be held June 2-7, at Brewer Essex Island Marina. “Soup-to-Nuts Navigation” happens over two mornings, on Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7, beginning at 8:30 a.m. The venue is Brewer Essex Island Marina in Essex, Connecticut. 

Ellison, who is best known for his www.panbo.com marine electronics blog, will then teach the principles of navigation using today’s multi-function displays–how to use them and how not to use them. He’ll talk about the equipment that is available today and the advances he sees for the future. One of them is crowdsourcing, which has turned the way charts are made upside down. 

Five hundred years ago in Europe, whoever had the most accurate charts held the pole position in the race for riches and military conquest. Kings guarded their charts the way modern nations guard nuclear secrets. 

Attendees will learn how recreational boaters today are turning that ancient Portuguese business model on its head—from charting as a kingly prerogative to charting as practiced by ordinary citizens acting for the common good. Thanks to GPS, inexpensive sonar and computers.