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Navigate beyond the GPS with ASA 105.
Learn practical coastal navigation from chart symbols and piloting to bearings, fixes, tides, currents and dead reckoning—online, at your own pace, on Windows or Mac.
Know where you are—and why your course is safe.
ASA 105 builds practical navigation skills for inland and coastal waters, including chart reading, piloting, rules of the road, tides and currents. The course trains with both electronic charts and traditional paper charts.
It begins with the fundamentals and develops the knowledge required to navigate safely and efficiently in changing conditions. ASA 105 is also a prerequisite for ASA 106 Advanced Coastal Cruising.
Traditional seamanship meets electronic navigation.
Practice on paper charts with standard plotting tools, then solve navigation problems electronically using waypoints, bearing lines and range rings.
Charts & publications
Decode Chart #1 conventions and work with the official publications prudent navigators rely on.
Courses & bearings
Convert true, magnetic and compass headings, check deviation and determine a course to steer.
Tides & currents
Use tide and current tables to predict height, direction, rate, set and drift at reference and secondary stations.
Fixes & route planning
Plot positions from terrestrial objects and chart a multi-leg course using the complete skill set.
Knowledge and skills curriculum
Open any item to see the original ASA 105 learning standard and its supporting details.
Knowledge
Standards 1–7-
Explain the chart symbols and conventions on U.S. nautical charts in accordance with the terminology of Chart #1.
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Identify a source of official U.S. Coast Guard navigation publications.
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List the publications required for prudent navigation in the local area, including:
- Large-scale charts of the area and Chart #1
- Federal Requirements for Recreational Boats
- USCG Navigation Rules and Regulations Handbook
- State small-vessel regulations
- Local rules and regulations, when applicable
- Local cruising guides
- Tide and current tables, paper or electronic
- List of lights, buoys and fog signals
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Describe the instruments required for prudent local navigation, including:
- Steering compass and deviation table
- Handbearing compass and/or pelorus
- Binoculars
- Protractor or parallel rule
- Depth sounder or leadline
- Pencil, eraser and notebook
- Dividers
- Watch or clock
- Log or knotmeter
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Describe the purpose and example contents of a “Notice to Mariners.”
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Explain the terms and characteristics used for lighted navigation aids.
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Explain the significance of shapes, colors and lights used in the U.S. Aids to Navigation (ATON) system.
Skills
Standards 8–16-
Find:
- Times and heights of tides at reference and secondary ports
- Direction and rate of current at reference and secondary stations
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Convert courses and bearings between true, magnetic and compass.
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Check compass deviation by a transit bearing or other means.
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Plot a dead-reckoning position on a chart using speed, time and course to steer.
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Allow for the effect of current and leeway to plot the estimated position.
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Determine a course to steer that takes into account known current and leeway.
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Determine current given the course steered and speed and two observed positions.
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Plot a chart position from terrestrial objects using:
- Two or more bearings on different objects taken at one time
- Bearings at different times, creating a running fix
- One bearing and a transit range
- One distance, such as a sounding or dipping a light, and one bearing
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Chart a course of at least 20 miles and three course changes using the skills above.
A complete online navigation classroom.
Work through lessons, assignments and quizzes online, then reinforce the material using printed texts, paper charts and electronic navigation resources.
From skipper to coastal navigator.
ASA 105 has no formal prerequisite, though many sailors benefit from completing ASA 101–104 first. ASA 105 is required before ASA 106 Advanced Coastal Cruising.
Recommended foundation
Coastal Navigation
Advanced Coastal Cruising
Earn ASA 105 online.
Register through American Sailing and Starpath, receive your materials and begin working through the course at your own pace. Your registration opens the official enrollment page in a new tab.
ASA 105 online FAQs
Key details about prerequisites, course time, technology and certification.
There are no formal prerequisites. The course teaches even the basics of standard plotting tools, although many students benefit from completing ASA 101 through ASA 104 first.
Students can reasonably expect to spend approximately 40 to 60 hours, depending on how much optional material they choose to cover. The course is self-paced, and access is provided for one year.
Yes. The course can be accessed from a Windows or Mac computer with an internet connection.
Yes. Successful completion earns official ASA 105 Coastal Navigation certification and a seal for your American Sailing logbook.
Course materials are included except standard plotting tools. You may need parallel rulers, dividers and a protractor.
