MIKCo FUNDAMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL SKILLS CHECKLIST

Weather

  • Wind direction
  • Warm & cold fronts
  • Wind speed and warnings
  • Thunderstorms
  • Fog

Wind & Waves

  • Reflecting & Refracting
  • Height, Length and Period (Speed)

Charts

  • NOAA #1
  • Symbols and depths
  • Lights and buoys
  • True and magnetic north
  • Chart preparation

Compass

  • Orient the chart
  • Take a bearing
  • Take a heading from a chart (using compass as a protractor)

Communications

  • VHF
  • Cell phone

Signals

  • Whistle
  • Voice
  • Flares
  • Dyes
  • Flags
  • Horns

Coast Guard Requirements

Day and night

Navigation: “The secret to not getting lost…”

  • Piloting
  • Dead reckoning
  • Course, heading, bearing
  • 1 degree of error is ~ 100’ in a mile

Effective use of Ranges