Marine Weather Online Home Study Course

Duration

Estimated to be about 30 to 60 hours of your time, depending on how much optional material you wish to cover. You work at your own pace on your own schedule.

Dates

You can start at any time, and submit quizzes and discussion any time of day or night. The lesson quizzes must be submitted sequentially. You have one year to complete the course or request an extension.

Course description

This course covers all aspects of practical marine weather, starting from the very basics and ending with all you need to plan your voyages — or weekend outings — safely and efficiently taking into account the weather. This is intended to be a practical course that will indeed affect your decision making when planning and underway. We only cover those aspects of the "theory" that will help us with this goal. This online version is a combination of our This course uses live weather data accessed through custom Internet links to illustrate many of the topics it covers. We will also monitor a hypothetical coastal or ocean passage at the time of the course to see how the real world evolved and what decisions might be best at the time.

Instructors

David Burch Starpath School of Navigation	Lee Chesneau US National Weather Service	Kenn Batt Austalian Bureau of Meteorology	Larry Brandt Starpath School of Navigation

Please read the general description of How the Courses work. Those notes apply to all courses. You can sign up for a course anytime the enrollment is open.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for the Weather Course. It is important to follow through on the assignments and work some of the practice problems in each lesson, because some terminology is presumed understood once it has been introduced and explained.

Student Objectives

• Understand the relationship between shipboard forecasting and use of official sources
• Know how to read the natural signs of weather observable from the vessel
• Know the official sources of marine weather underway and how to use them
• Understand the use and value of a barometer
• Know how to read a weather map for tactical route planning purposes
• Have an overview of global weather patterns
• Know how terrain affects the wind
• Learn the answers to many practical questions in marine weather
• ...here are few more reasons to take the weather course

Certification

This course will prepare you for marine weather aspects of any certification test, including professional licensing exams. We do not know of organizations other than Starpath that offers training certification specifically in marine weather, but you can add our certification stickers to your US Sailing or ASA logbooks as "Extra training." The Starpath certification is recognized internationally through the the International Association of Sailing Schools.