About Practical Navigator
|
Practical Navigator Training is designed to present useful navigation topics for professional and recreational mariners in a no-nonsense way. The site is run by Christopher D. Nolan, a former USCG cutterman and current USCG reservist. Chris has over 15 years of sea time, with 10 years in command. He holds a 1600-ton USCG merchant mariner license upon ocean routes and a 3000-ton STCW license, having served on the following vessels:
CGC ALEX HALEY (Kodiak, AK) - Deck Watch Officer CGC DORADO (Crescent City, CA) - Commanding Officer S/V KEALA AKALA (Honolulu, HI) - Captain/Master CGC EAGLE (New London, CT) - Operations Officer & Navigator CGC JEFFERSON ISLAND (Portland, ME) - Commanding Officer S/V NAVIGATOR (New London, CT) - Captain/Master SS/V CORWITH CRAMER (Woods Hole, MA) - Captain/Master SS/V ROBERT C. SEAMANS (Woods Hole, MA) - Captain/Master S/V STAR OF INDIA (San Diego, CA) - Captain/Master |
The Practical Navigator project began in 2010 when Chris was the Commanding Officer of USCGC Jefferson Island in Portland, Maine. Recognizing a deficiency in Coast Guard navigational prowess as technology grew to dominate the bridge, Chris decided to combine his three hobbies of film-making, training, and maritime navigation to create funny and educational training videos for his crew and friends.
After posting these early videos on YouTube and receiving positive feedback, Chris grew the program over the next several years while he was on sabbatical on his 34-foot sailboat in the Caribbean. There, he wrote, filmed, and edited the 11-part "Celestial Navigation" video series and wrote a navigational textbook called "The Cutterman's Guide to Navigation Problems." After returning to the USA and expanding his own merchant mariner license, Chris recognized that many Coast Guard Approved courses were overpriced and under-whelming in quality. So, he set out to expand the Practical Navigator project to include USCG-Approved training courses from 100-ton master all the way to Advanced Celestial Navigation.
In 2015, Chris left the Coast Guard to pursue a career in sailing education, and has since recognized that as technology improves and the next generation of mariner advances up the hawsepipe, there is a significant need for high quality, low cost training, especially navigation training and USCG license preparation for navigation exams. This website serves as a homeport for Chris' navigation training efforts and is meant to assist mariners in learning or improving the fundamentals of maritime navigation and USCG licensing.
After posting these early videos on YouTube and receiving positive feedback, Chris grew the program over the next several years while he was on sabbatical on his 34-foot sailboat in the Caribbean. There, he wrote, filmed, and edited the 11-part "Celestial Navigation" video series and wrote a navigational textbook called "The Cutterman's Guide to Navigation Problems." After returning to the USA and expanding his own merchant mariner license, Chris recognized that many Coast Guard Approved courses were overpriced and under-whelming in quality. So, he set out to expand the Practical Navigator project to include USCG-Approved training courses from 100-ton master all the way to Advanced Celestial Navigation.
In 2015, Chris left the Coast Guard to pursue a career in sailing education, and has since recognized that as technology improves and the next generation of mariner advances up the hawsepipe, there is a significant need for high quality, low cost training, especially navigation training and USCG license preparation for navigation exams. This website serves as a homeport for Chris' navigation training efforts and is meant to assist mariners in learning or improving the fundamentals of maritime navigation and USCG licensing.
|
|
Please consider donating to the project if you can afford to do so. Your donation goes directly to defraying the costs of these excellent courses to military members and young sailors.
|
Media
Chris is featured in the "On the Wind" Podcast with 59-North Sailing.
Chris is featured in Fortune Magazine about GPS disruptions and the importance of celestial navigation!
The site owner makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this web site and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this web site. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and freedom from computer virus, is given with respect to the contents of this web site or its hyperlinks to other Internet resources. Reference in this web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the owner of this web site.