Going Back To School - Just like Radar O'Reilly

B

Bill 310

Crew Member
Last spring I signed up for the Power Squadron now "CanBoat" Radar Course.

It was an Instructor-led online course . Enrollment comes with a comprehensive textbook.

Unfortunately, do to some PPP (**** Poor Planning) we were going to be in New Zealand for over half the course and the 18 hour time difference made finishing the course impossible.

When the 2 hour online class started in Toronto at 7 pm it would be 1pm in New Zealand. Those of us who are in a realtionship, married or having just relations understand that my finding WiFi and taking two hours plus out of one's wifes dream vacation is a no go.

I was able to transfer my course at no charge to a Power Squadron (CanBoat) Radar Course this year at no charge.

I am hoping that some of the folks on BC Sportfishing might want to enroll in a Radar Course this winter/spring .

Here is the scoop.

First of all it is being taught online by someone in our time zone , for two hours Thursday evenings Feb 5th to March 12th from 7 -9 pm.

I was supplied with an excellent textbook and from what little saw before heading to NZ the Class was well laid out. with good teaching materials


Additional Information

This Virtual classroom will be approximately 2.5 hours each week. All classes will be held using Zoom. You will be required to complete the online exam within 2 weeks of the final class.

Pricing and Packages:

Radar for Boaters - Virtual Classroom (printed book)
Non-Member Price
$180.00
Member Price
$144.00


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There is an online Course being taught by west coaster Alexa Stochmal and runs from Feb 5th to March 12th Class time 2.5 hours each session

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Now lots of us know our partners are thinking "what do I get the Christmas for my PP?" (Perfect Partner )

Well..... rather than socks maybe ask for a Radar Class.... just in case you are thinking that adding radar is somthing you might want to add to the boat but you want to see if "having radar even makes sense for our boat".

... just saying
 
@Bill 310 Does it touch on using radar to spot birds feeding on bait while hunting for tuna? I’m two online courses paid for but not finished, but my buddy is picking up his boat tomorrow with the new Halo+. He isn’t ready for fogust much less California tuna runs so this course is just what the doctor ordered.

I suggest Poets Cove for the graduation party.
 
kaelc said:
@Bill 310 Does it touch on using radar to spot birds feeding on bait while hunting for tuna? I’m two online courses paid for but not finished, but my buddy is picking up his boat tomorrow with the new Halo+. He isn’t ready for fogust much less California tuna runs so this course is just what the doctor ordered.

I suggest Poets Cove for the graduation party.
Click to expand...
If you can learn to tune your radar, you can do this.
Gain, power and clutter knobs are key, not sure how easy it is to tune a touch screen.
I keep my old furuno radar on board for that reason alone, it has knobs/buttons for gain and clutter.
Problem is picking up heavy precipitation when tuning for birds.

The course should most definitely teach tune, then you learn to apply to different targets.
 
I guess I should say this sounds like the fish symbols on fishfinders.
Tuning and reading your equipment is more important than a fish or bird symbol.
 
You should all be happy that daylight screens for radar were invented , I once spent 9 days straight with my face in the rubber dome cover of the old style radar trying to avoid 90 other seine boats in the fog on the west coast trying to set their 1/3 of a mile long seine nets. That was 36 years ago and I'm just starting to get over it now.
 
kaelc said:
@Bill 310 Does it touch on using radar to spot birds feeding on bait while hunting for tuna? I’m two online courses paid for but not finished, but my buddy is picking up his boat tomorrow with the new Halo+. He isn’t ready for fogust much less California tuna runs so this course is just what the doctor ordered.

I suggest Poets Cove for the graduation party.
Click to expand...
I signed up for the radar course last year thinking I could do the last 4 of the online classes in New Zealand.

That was not to be.

I was surprised that Can Boat just rolled me over into this years course at no cost . I am pretty sure that is SOP for folks who sign up and for some reason don't get to finish a class.

You might want to call and go for the ask
 
Capt_Ed said:
You should all be happy that daylight screens for radar were invented , I once spent 9 days straight with my face in the rubber dome cover of the old style radar trying to avoid 90 other seine boats in the fog on the west coast trying to set their 1/3 of a mile long seine nets. That was 36 years ago and I'm just starting to get over it now.
Click to expand...

It sounds like those were busy times for you 😱 What a nightmare.

Last fall leaving the dock at Princess Lousia It was pea Soup 1/2 mile out and cleared just before Malibu . Obviosly, we would have waited above the rapids until it burned off . I decided right then that I was going to finish that Radar course .

My late Father in-law went back and forth across the Atlantic in WW 2 in Corvettes and frigates. He went in the water three times and survived. He was an early Asdic operator, and coming to no one's surprise post war he was a chronic alcoholic.
 
Everybody having a radar reflector would go a long ways to solve peoples radar issues. Not having one on your boat is just asking for problems, especially on the west coast.
 
Capt_Ed said:
You should all be happy that daylight screens for radar were invented , I once spent 9 days straight with my face in the rubber dome cover of the old style radar trying to avoid 90 other seine boats in the fog on the west coast trying to set their 1/3 of a mile long seine nets. That was 36 years ago and I'm just starting to get over it now.
Click to expand...
The orange glow coming out of the rubber viewer of the Decca is a strong memory.
I do not get seasick easily, but having your face in that viewer in sporty conditions was a gut test.
The rubber had a special smell too.
Ooohh the horror...
 
Since selling our company and retiring, it has been a bit of a challenge to find myself. I did enjoy teaching some seminars in my field , and a few months ago I went to a prensentation at the False Creek Yacht Club on "The Essentials of Informed Navigation within the Port of Vancouver" put on by a member of the Port Staff.

Unfortunatley, the Speaker was unable to attend at the last minute, they went to Ottawa, so it ended up being a bit of a social event (which was good) and one of the attendees gave an off the cuff and spontanious talk on the Murakami House that was fanatstic.

https://stevestonheritage.ca/things-to-do/murakami-house/

After the talk folks just stood around and talked. Now I knew no one in the room when I arrived but that soon changed and soon I was questioned if I would be interested in teaching a Power Squadron Course or two. Apparrently like the decline in Membership of Service Clubs, the Power Squadron (i.e CanBoat ) needs folks to teach it's classes. Aging demographics as per ususal

So I thought well, being practical and a little self serving, keeping up to speed on the Radio Course would be something I could probabaly do.

I did my course about 5 years ago and 98% of my calling on the radio is calling Marinas. So now I am sort of an instructor in training.

The other day I attended my first class to watch and observe. The instructor was Alexa Stochmal who is our Instuctor for the Radar Course.

Based on my day in Radio Class we drew the Golden Ticket whn it comes to instructors.

Alexa, and her late husband went everywhere on their boat and the Radio Course has now has folks talking on a closes circuit radio that has a base station and a hand held radio and you are taught how to do the practical things like calling on DSC.

The new Radio course book is much better and Alexa, was one of the eight Person Committee who developed the new Radio Course. She is credited in the introduction along with her peers.

Based on her teaching skills and her deep level of knowledge from decades and decades of boating up and down coast and circumnavigations of Vancouver Island with her late husband we seemed to have lucked in with a first rate instructor.

Alexa, has her AP designation from the Power Squadron. I had to ask her what that meantwhen we had lunch . She told me it meant she had her Advanced Piloting Designation, and left it at that so I looked it up

In the Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons (CPS-ECP), the AP designation stands for Advanced Piloting.
This designation refers to a higher-level course within their educational program, building on foundational navigation skills. The Advanced Piloting course is designed for boaters who want to expand their knowledge beyond basic navigation to confidently plan and execute cruises in coastal waters, especially under complex conditions involving tides and currents.
Key topics covered in the course include:
  • Using a variety of electronic navigation devices such as GPS, chart plotters, radar, and SONAR.
  • Mastering advanced dead reckoning, fixes, and running fixes.
  • Planning courses under tidal, current, and windy conditions.
The AP designation is part of a series of advanced grades offered by the organization, which also includes Seamanship (S), Junior Navigation (JN), and Navigation (N).

It would be great if more of us signed up for the radar course if for no other reason to meet some more of you.

I mentioned this to my wife and she said "I see your plan you want to make new friends and get everyone going to school together".
 
I did my radio course online while away at work but Alexa did my zoom exam, I thought she was excellent. Unfortunately with my work schedule I can't easily schedule courses but online I can do anywhere in the world so works for me.

Bill 310 said:
Since selling our company and retiring, it has been a bit of a challenge to find myself. I did enjoy teaching some seminars in my field , and a few months ago I went to a prensentation at the False Creek Yacht Club on "The Essentials of Informed Navigation within the Port of Vancouver" put on by a member of the Port Staff.

Unfortunatley, the Speaker was unable to attend at the last minute, they went to Ottawa, so it ended up being a bit of a social event (which was good) and one of the attendees gave an off the cuff and spontanious talk on the Murakami House that was fanatstic.

https://stevestonheritage.ca/things-to-do/murakami-house/

After the talk folks just stood around and talked. Now I knew no one in the room when I arrived but that soon changed and soon I was questioned if I would be interested in teaching a Power Squadron Course or two. Apparrently like the decline in Membership of Service Clubs, the Power Squadron (i.e CanBoat ) needs folks to teach it's classes. Aging demographics as per ususal

So I thought well, being practical and a little self serving, keeping up to speed on the Radio Course would be something I could probabaly do.

I did my course about 5 years ago and 98% of my calling on the radio is calling Marinas. So now I am sort of an instructor in training.

The other day I attended my first class to watch and observe. The instructor was Alexa Stochmal who is our Instuctor for the Radar Course.

Based on my day in Radio Class we drew the Golden Ticket whn it comes to instructors.

Alexa, and her late husband went everywhere on their boat and the Radio Course has now has folks talking on a closes circuit radio that has a base station and a hand held radio and you are taught how to do the practical things like calling on DSC.

The new Radio course book is much better and Alexa, was one of the eight Person Committee who developed the new Radio Course. She is credited in the introduction along with her peers.

Based on her teaching skills and her deep level of knowledge from decades and decades of boating up and down coast and circumnavigations of Vancouver Island with her late husband we seemed to have lucked in with a first rate instructor.

Alexa, has her AP designation from the Power Squadron. I had to ask her what that meantwhen we had lunch . She told me it meant she had her Advanced Piloting Designation, and left it at that so I looked it up

In the Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons (CPS-ECP), the AP designation stands for Advanced Piloting.
This designation refers to a higher-level course within their educational program, building on foundational navigation skills. The Advanced Piloting course is designed for boaters who want to expand their knowledge beyond basic navigation to confidently plan and execute cruises in coastal waters, especially under complex conditions involving tides and currents.
Key topics covered in the course include:
  • Using a variety of electronic navigation devices such as GPS, chart plotters, radar, and SONAR.
  • Mastering advanced dead reckoning, fixes, and running fixes.
  • Planning courses under tidal, current, and windy conditions.
The AP designation is part of a series of advanced grades offered by the organization, which also includes Seamanship (S), Junior Navigation (JN), and Navigation (N).

It would be great if more of us signed up for the radar course if for no other reason to meet some more of you.

I mentioned this to my wife and she said "I see your plan you want to make new friends and get everyone going to school together".
Click to expand...
 
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