One of the key philosophies of USPS-America’s Boating Club is the self-education of its members, with a certified training program where successful students gain experience and then go on to teach other students to perpetuate boating knowledge. Our instructors bring many years of practical experience to the classroom using modern instructional techniques.
Experienced Squadron members provide classes in all boating topics throughout the year. They are open to sailors of all skill levels, members or non-members. These classes include instructor led courses, on-the-water and in the classroom, along with seminars and workshops on many boating topics.
San Diego Sail & Power Squadron 2026 Class Schedule
Boat Handling – Starts Friday, February 6 – Register Here!
Sail – Starts Monday, March 2 – Register Here!
Cruise Planning – Starts Monday, August 31
Weather – Starts Friday, October 23
Marine Navigation – Starts Monday, October 5
ABC Class – Starts Monday, May 11
ABC Class – Starts Monday, June 29
- Most classes held at Southwestern Yacht Club
- Cruise Planning will be held as San Diego Yacht Club
- All Classes start at 6:30 PM
Note:
ABC Classes follows the April 26, 2026, Day at the Docks & June 11 – 14, 2026, San Diego International Boat Show.
Safe Boating, Seamanship & Navigation Class
Master the Art of Boating with Confidence and qualify for your California Boater Card
Starts 6:30 PM, May 11, 2026
Southwestern Yacht Club
2702 Qualtrough Street, San Diego CA 92106
Cost: $40 For Books and Materials
This is the public boating (ABC) course or for any member that needs to get their boating card.
Course Catalog
All Boating Courses
Beginner, intermediate or advanced — whatever your skill level, our in-depth boating education courses will boost your knowledge and confidence on the water.
- America’s Boating Course gives you the basics you need to get out on the water safely, and it meets most state boating education requirements.
- Boat Handling builds your competence and confidence on the water with an in-depth look at the practical boating skills.
- Marine Navigation and Advanced Marine Navigation give you the skills you need to get where you’re going using charts and marine electronics as well as a knowledge of winds, currents and tides.
- Offshore Navigation and Celestial Navigation, a must for oceangoing captains, teach you about planning and monitoring your voyage using modern marine electronics and how celestial observations can help you estimate your vessel’s position with confidence.
- Cruising Under Power and Sail prepares you for a multi-day voyage.
- Engine Maintenance gives you information on how engines work and basic maintenance procedures, as well as how to recognize problems.
- Marine Electrical Systems provides information on Alternating and Direct current, as well as boat electrical systems.
- Marine Communication Systems explains the different types of radios and communication options.
- Electronic Navigation gives you basic information on the various electronic devices available today that help you navigate and select routes.
- Radar for Boaters gives you basic information on radar.
- Sail lets you learn about basic sailboat designs and nomenclature, rigging, and safety from experienced sailors. Then tackle the physical aspects of all forces and techniques, sail applications, marlinespike, helmsman ship, and handling of difficult conditions.
- Weather is a detailed study of the causes of weather, various types of storms, clouds, and predicting weather
Become a Better Boater With America’s Boating Course
Taking a boating class reduces your risk of accidents and injuries, saves you money on boat insurance, and qualifies you for a state boat license or operator certificate in most states.
America’s Boating Course is the most comprehensive, single source, in-person boating course available to give you the skills you need to enjoy your time on the water and boat with confidence. Available in both English and Spanish, our boater safety class meets most states’ certification requirements.
What You’ll Learn:
- Information about your State Boating Laws, regulations, boat registration, and licensing.
- Required boating safety equipment
- Do’s and Don’ts of boating safely
- Practical Knowledge of navigation and rules of the road
- How to handle medical emergencies onboard and mechanical problems on the water
- The basics of towing and trailering
- Special important information for hunters, anglers, and sports enthusiasts.
For the best, most comprehensive boating education available, take America’s Boating Course with an expert instructor near you or take America’s Boating Course or one of our other online courses.
Boat Handling
Learn how to handle your boat in a variety of situations and become the skipper you want to be. Gain confidence in docking, underway, anchoring, and other seamanship skills.
Our new Boat Handling course is intended for newer recreational boaters who have completed a basic boating class (like America’s Boating Course) and want to gain more knowledge, skill, and confidence to boat safely and have more fun in a variety of situations.
Boat Handling covers these topics:
- Rules of the Road: A Practical Approach
- Confidence in Docking and Undocking: Slow-Speed Maneuvering
- Boating with Confidence: Handling Your Boat Under Way
- Anchoring with Assurance: Don’t Get Carried Away
- Emergencies on Board: Preparation for Handling Common Problems
- Knots and Line Handling: The Knots You Need to Know
Each topic is also available as a free-standing seminar. Click on the above links to learn more.
Our instructors will enrich the course with local knowledge, experience, and discussion that will help you expand your boating horizons.
Ask your local squadron about on-the-water coaching to help you grow in your situational awareness, knowledge of what to do in each situation, and ability to perform boat-handling skills that will help you enjoy boating more and with the confidence you desire.
The course also includes an optional online test, which covers material contained in both the Student Guide and the six online modules. Members of America’s Boating Club who take this online course and pass the online exam will get credit for Boat Handling and qualify for Seaman. Many boat insurance companies offer savings for America’s Boating Club courses.
Marine Navigation
You won’t ever get lost or run aground when you know marine navigation, whether for short day trips or long multi-day cruises.
Learn the essentials of safe coastal and inland navigation using basic GPS in conjunction with charts and other marine data. The Marine Navigation course teaches you how to use the GPS along with traditional dead reckoning techniques for planning and laying out safe routes, as well as ensuring that you are on-course while underway.
What’s included?
- Charts and their interpretation
- Landmarks and navigation aids (buoys, day marks, lights, etc.)
- Plotting courses and determining direction and distance
- The mariner’s compass and converting between True and Magnetic
- Use of GPS – basic GPS displays and information they provide, setting up waypoints and routes, staying on a GPS course
- Pre-planning courses and entering them into the GPS
- Monitoring progress and determining position by both GPS and traditional techniques such as bearings and dead reckoning
- The “Seaman’s Eye” – simple skills for checking that one is on course
Advanced Marine Navigation
Do you want to navigate unfamiliar waters in limited visibility or take an extended cruise with confidence? Learn to use manual navigation, radar, chart plotters, AIS, and other electronic tools in a variety of coastal tide, current and wind conditions. Learn course planning, extended cruise navigation, hazard and collision avoidance, and navigational aids. Our experienced instructors and extensive knowledge base makes you a better captain.
What’s included?
- Advanced positioning techniques, such as advancing a line of position to obtain a running fix
- Use of a variety of electronic tools: radar, depth sounders, autopilots, chart plotters, laptop computer software, and more
- Hazard avoidance techniques using electronics (e.g. avoidance waypoints or safety zones in GPS)
- Collision avoidance using radar, GPS, and AIS
- Working with the tide and current data to determine clearances, depth of water, and effects of current
- Piloting in various wind and current conditions
- Simple skills for checking that one is on course
Ten classes of two hours each normally are scheduled for the presentation of this course. In addition, the students have seven days to complete an open book exam.
Offshore Navigation
Always know your location. Learn the practical aspects of daytime celestial navigation using a sextant and the sun to calculate your position.
In Offshore Navigation, you will continue to use GPS but also learn celestial navigation as your backup technique. Because terrestrial landmarks are no longer visible to the offshore navigator, you will learn to use a marine sextant and the sun as your reference point, derive a line of position and develop a running fix. You will also learn to calculate your latitude from a noon sight on the sun.
What’s included?
- Determining precise time
- Using the Nautical Almanac
- Determining latitude from a noon sight
- Using special charts and plotting sheets for offshore navigation
- Setting offshore navigational routines for recreational craft
This interesting and challenging course emphasizes the practical aspects of daytime celestial navigation. You will also learn to prepare a sight folder that documents your positioning skills using sights taken on the sun. The course will take approximately 14 weeks to complete and you will have two additional weeks to complete an open book exam.
Seminar Course Catalog
All Boating Seminars
Get Your Feet Wet With Seminars
Round out your knowledge or discover something new by taking one of our brief, boating education seminars led by experienced volunteer instructors.
Boat Handling
- Anchoring With Assurance
- Boating on Rivers, Locks and Lakes
- Boating with Confidence
- Confidence in Docking and Undocking
- Emergencies on Board
- Knots and Line Handling
- Rules of the Road
Electronics
Navigation
Facing the Environment
Safety
Techniques
Cruising
Anchoring with Assurance: Don’t Get Carried Away
Know how to anchor in a variety of situations, weather, or seabed and be prepared to adjust for changing conditions.
Learn the skills and knowledge of securing your vessel to the bottom through the use of a line, chain, and one or more anchors. Whether it’s for fishing, swimming, a lunch break, or an overnight stop, one of the real pleasures in boating is “hanging on the hook” in some quiet spot. Emergencies such as loss of power, equipment breakdown or failure, or weather hazard may also require that your boat be anchored for a time.
Good seamanship demands that all boaters know how to anchor safely. Anchoring topics begin with how to select an anchorage and how to anchor depending on conditions. After learning how anchors should be used, you will know if yours is satisfactory or what kind(s) to buy. The seminar covers useful anchoring tips and tricks and concludes by discussing how to moor and raft safely.
Ask your local squadron about on-the-water coaching to help you practice your skills with assurance, so you don’t get carried away.
Anchoring with Assurance is offered as a seminar and as part of the Boat Handling course. Save by taking the whole course.
Rules of the Road: A Practical Approach
Avoid collisions and other hazards! Know the rules of the road.
Navigational rules of the road help you know what to do when you share the water with other boats, how to recognize and signal intentions, and how to avoid a collision. This seminar focuses in a practical way on helping you understand the basic rules encountered by recreational boaters during almost every boating outing and the rules most likely to apply in the local waters where you boat. It covers skipper responsibilities, general rules, and definitions, rules to avoid a collision, lights and shapes, and sound and light signals.
Rules of the Road will help you understand how to recognize local situations, the rules that apply, and the actions you should take. And be sure to read the United States Coast Guard’s Navigational Rules and Regulations Handbook for the authoritative word on all rules of the road, since – as the skipper or designated crew member – you are responsible to know the rules that apply anywhere you boat.
Rules of the Road is offered as an individual seminar or it may be taken as part of the Boat Handling course. Save by taking the whole course.
Do you know which knots to use in every situation? Learn to securely attach your boat and other useful applications.
Learn how to secure your boat to docks, piers, and other boats;
handle rescue and repair situations; manage running rigging; anchor
securely; and tow other vessels or people. This seminar has been
designed to help you to know which lines and knots to use in each
situation. You’ll gain knowledge and hands-on experience selecting the
appropriate line and tying the 10 most useful knots, bends, and hitches;
and you’ll learn how to care for the lines on your boat and on the
dock.
Knots and Line Handling is offered as an individual seminar or it may be taken as part of the Boat Handling course. Save by taking the whole course.
Confidence in Docking and Undocking: Slow-Speed Maneuvering
Look like a pro. Protect your boat, your passengers, and yourself with the docking/undocking skills you need.
Docking can be one of the most stressful tasks you can perform, especially if you are a new boater. Learn how to control your boat at slow speed in close proximity to other boats and fixed objects. Learn how to approach the dock in a variety of conditions and safely secure your boat. Learn how to depart the dock in any situation. Understand the use of spring lines, how to safely fend off, and other techniques. With the knowledge you’ll gain in this seminar, coupled with your on-the-water practice, your confidence in docking and slow-speed maneuvering will increase and your boating will be both safer and more enjoyable.
Confidence in Docking and Undocking is offered as a seminar and as part of the Boat Handling course. Save by taking the whole course.
Boating with Confidence: Handling Your Boat Under Way
Gain confidence, knowledge, and skills that you need for a variety of boat-handling situations.
Learn about basic operations; trimming your boat; operating on plane; handling seas and waves; dealing with bars, rivers, rivers, and bends; and other situations you will encounter along your cruise. And you’ll have a better understanding about issues you can control and how to handle them. Understand the issues that the environment will present and how to react in a timely manner.
Ask your local squadron about on-the-water coaching to help you practice your at-sea boat-handling skills until you feel fully confident handling your boat underway.
Boating with Confidence is offered as a seminar and as part of the Boat Handling course. Save by taking the whole course.
Emergencies on Board: Preparation for Handling Common Problems
No one wants to think about it, but emergencies happen on boats. Be prepared for a variety of boating mishaps, medical emergencies, and other crises!
Prevention and preparation make all the difference. This seminar will prepare you to handle common emergencies that can happen when you are on your boat and away from the dock, whether you venture out for the day or are leaving on a longer cruise. You will learn how to deal with them as they occur and especially when the skipper is unable to respond.
Upon completion of this seminar, you will have gained an understanding of the most common types of vessel emergencies and how to deal with them, how to handle onboard fires, how to recognize and prepare for medical emergencies and how to communicate with crew, other boats, and first responders.
Emergencies on Board is offered as a seminar and as part of the Boat Handling course. Save by taking the whole course.
How to Use GPS
Know where you are and where you are going using GPS. Learn how to use GPS, select and use GPS devices, and apply GPS to your navigational needs.
Use Your GPS LIke An Expert
Click here for closed caption version of video.
Boaters need the most reliable location and position information available, which makes getting the most out of your Global Positioning System pretty important. Learn how to use waypoints, build and execute routes, and monitor progress. Learn to interpret location information and tracking data, and get an overview of how GPS integrates with your boat’s electronic systems. Explore what features you need and how to arrange your display. Also get tips on connecting your GPS to your VHF marine radio, which opens up a new world of digital hailing and distress signaling.
Boaters need the most reliable location and position information available, which makes getting the most out of your Global Positioning System pretty important. Learn how to use waypoints, build and execute routes, and monitor progress. Learn to interpret location information and tracking data, and get an overview of how GPS integrates with your boat’s electronic systems. Explore what features you need and how to arrange your display. Also get tips on connecting your GPS to your VHF marine radio, which opens up a new world of digital hailing and distress signaling.
Crew at the Helm
Are you a regular passenger on your family’s or friend’s boat? Looking to join your spouse on boating adventures? Learn the essential boating skills you need to operate a boat safely and become a confident and valued crew member.
Click Here for Closed Caption Version of Video
Crew at the Helm introduces boating activities including an understanding of anchoring, docking, navigation and much more. You’ll discover how to prepare for bad weather, provide first aid, handle on-board emergencies, and be a self-assured first mate onboard.
What’s included?
- Communications, including VHF marine radio
- Calling for help
- Signaling equipment
- First aid
- Starting and running the engine
- Tool kits
