* For all radar users, recreational and professional.
* Covers the use of radar for chart navigation, blind pilotage,and collision avoidance.
This Workbook is designed to be used in classroom or online courses in radar, or for individual study outside of the classroom. The lesson structure follows that used by several schools in the US, based on the background reader Radar for Mariners by David Burch.
The Appendix on advanced radar plotting is included for professional mariners who seek more practice on interpreting ARPA output by working out the vector solutions themselves. The ability to manually interpret the radar interactions seen on the screen, independent of electronic solutions, is in keeping with the fundamental tenet of good navigation and seamanship that we should not rely on any one aid alone.
Larry Brandt gained his intimate knowledge of radar compliments in the US Air Force, where he was a maintenance crew chief on advanced Air Defense Command. He later worked for a number of years as a technician on aviation weather radar, autopilots, and other avionics.
Larry is an American Sailing Association-certified instructor for all keelboat levels up to and including Advanced Coastal Cruising, Marine Radar, and Coastal Navigation. He and his wife own a Catalina 36 sailing vessel that is used extensively throughout the Pacific Northwest and western Canada, and he crews as navigator and mate on deliveries, both power and sail. He is the Technical Editor for the Catalina 36 Mk II series boats.
He holds an FCC General Radiotelephone License with ship radar endorsement and an amateur radio license as well. He has over 4500 hours of flying time, and holds an FAA Airline Transport Pilot License (multiengine land), and an FAA Commercial License (single engine land, sea, and helicopter). He also holds FAA Advanced and Instrument Ground Instructor ratings.
David Burch, PhD, FRIN, is the Director of Starpath School of Navigation, which after 26,000 classroom students since 1979 switched to all online training in 2008. He is the author of 13 books and hundreds of magazine articles. He received the Institute of Navigation's Superior Achievement Award for outstanding performance as a practicing navigator. He is Fellow of the US Institute of Navigation as well as a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation in London. He has extensive ocean sailing experience covering much of the globe, and once held an elapsed time record for the Victoria to Maui Yacht Race that lasted for 16 years. On the academic side, he is a past Fulbright Scholar with a PHD in physics.
