Aqua Map School Program

I teach a variety of ASA classes. I begin showing Aqua Map to students in ASA 103. It’s an introduction to coastal cruising. I work with them to help them understand distances, track our sailing days and understand coastal topography. In ASA 104 I ask the students to dive in and plan a route before the class starts. This pushes them to create routes and think about distances. When the class begins, we share our routes, come up with a common plan then export the routes and work from a common plan. We use Aqua Map to do running fixes, headings and bearings to waypoints and coastal objects. In ASA 106 we do all the above plus run the routes watching VMG and picking best points of tack and such. We review weather for the voyage. We also use Aqua Map for night bearings and Man Overboard training.
It’s very handy for trip planning and individual chart work. The boats I usually work on have a single chartplotter at the helm. This limits the time and scope of what students can accomplish during our course time. Having Aqua Map on their phone/tablet expands this time and helps my students get a grasp of real world navigation situations and trip planning more quickly.

Our ASA 105 Coastal Navigation class this year expanded its integration of the digital capabilities of online navigation resources and tools into the class. Aqua Map’s school program offers students free use of their charts and advanced features for three months from the start of the class and a discount on subsequent subscription renewals. It provides an excellent way to give them hands-on experience integrating a marine navigation app into the ASA navigation course with its full range of navigation information and operational capabilities. The Aqua Map app integrates the key elements essential to make good, timely informed navigation decisions during planning and while underway by integrating tide and current, timely updated USCG local notice to mariner (LNM) notices, USCG coastal surveys, Bob 423 intercoastal waterway tracks, user generated content (USC) from WaterWay Guide and Active Captain and real-time weather forecasts. The focus was not to replace traditional navigation skills using paper charts and plotting techniques but to integrate the digital capabilities Aqua Map provides to navigation planning. Aqua Map capabilities were integrated into training on tide and currents, the impact of weather on planning, route planning and keeping charts updated with the latest updates from the USCG. Students worked through multiple tide¤t questions and several cruise planning problems using both traditional planning techniques on paper charts and the Aqua Map app to include integrating the app in end of course test. Understanding of the capabilities and limitations of digital navigation tools and skills is an important part of any training program for today’s navigators. Effectively integrated with traditional plotting skills and tools, it makes for sound, timely, informed decisions that translate to better safety at sea …. and better navigators.
I have been using the Aqua Map app for several years in on-the -water classes, deliveries in the Chesapeake Bay, along the East coast and down the ICW. Preparing to teach and using it in class allowed me to gain a much better understanding of its capabilities. The Aqua Map school kit, training support material and responsive support were all first rate. The fully integrated capabilities of the app with its advanced feature integrated all essential navigation information needed for planning and interaction with that data in one place. Its ability to access updated information is the best I have found on the market. The school plans to integrate this training in other ASA courses. I strongly encourage taking advantage of this training package.