LTCO Sail Canada Emergency Navigation Course Overview
We are pleased to announce LTCO’s Emergency Navigation course. This online self-study course addresses all the requirements for certification for the Sail Canada Emergency Navigation standard. The most recent version of the standard is here:
- Sail Canada: https://www.sailing.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Emergency-Navigation-Standard-July-1-2026.docx.pdf
1. LTCO’s Emergency Navigation Course
The SC Emergency Navigation standard provides a framework that organizes the navigational knowledge and skills needed for emergency navigation, and is an alternative prerequisite for skipper certification at the Offshore level.
LTCO’s Emergency Navigation course has two primary objectives:
- To prepare participants to successfully write the exam required for SC emergency nav certification;
- The second is to provide a practical way to learn emergency navigation in the easiest way I have found so far through my years of teaching celestial navigation. With today’s modern electronics, it is rare that anyone would ever navigate an offshore passage using exclusively celestial means of determining position. However, knowledge of emergency navigation is not only rewarding in itself, there are rare circumstances (such as a lightnight strike that takes out all the boat’s electronics) that could arise in which that knowledge could make a crucial difference in reaching a safe destination.
2. Course structure
LTCO’s Emergency Navigation course is comprised of 6 sessions:
- Course Overview and Getting Started
- 1. Lesson 1: Noon sun sight
- 2. Lesson 2: Latitude from Polaris
- 3. Lesson 3: Other Emergency Navigation Techniques
- 4. Practice Exam
- 5. Taking the official Sail Canada Emergency Navigation exam
- 6. Next steps
A unique aspect of the course is that the practical worked examples and exercises are based on actual sights taken on a trans-Atlantic passage from Gran Canaria to St. Vincent and the Grenadines in February, 2025.
Each lesson is organized as follows:
- A lesson overview
- Assigned readings in the text (if applicable), or other assigned readings
- Identification of any additional tools and/or resources specific to the lesson
- A video presentation that provides illustrative step-by-step explanations of how and why to perform the techniques that are the focus of the lesson. Wherever possible, these illustrations are based on actual sun. moon, planet, and star sights taken on the crossing referred to above
- Identification of relevant exercises
- Additional exercises and solutions based on the Feb 2025 passage referenced above
3. Text and Exercise book
The text for the course is Celestial Navigation by Dominique Prinet, who was formerly an aircraft pilot and Sail Canada instructor and instructor evaluator. I used this book and accompanying exercises to self-study for my SC celestial navigation exam in 2019-20, so I can personally testify that is an excellent resource. This course supplements the Prinet text by providing: illustrative step-by-step explanations of how and why to perform the various techniques; and accompanying exercises.
The text and exercise book can be obtained in various formats from Dominique Prinet’s website at:
- Text: https://www.marinenavigationbooks.com/book-celestial-navigation.php
- Exervise book: https://www.marinenavigationbooks.com/book-celestial-navigation-exercise.php
The most economical option is the PDF formats available from Friesen Press.
4. Course author / instructor
LTCO’s Emergency Nav course has been assembled by Rob McLean, who has six decades of sailing and boating experience. He began cruising in 1982 and has accumulated more than 55,000 miles on the Great Lakes and associated inland waterways, the St. Lawrence River and Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico, including more than 30,000 miles offshore and three Atlantic crossings.
Rob is the only Offshore Instructor certified by both ASA and Sail Canada. and is also the only IE certified by both ASA (as a Senior Master Instructor) and Sail Canada (as a Senior Instructor Evaluator). He is the only instructor in Canada certified to teach all five navigation standards: Basic Coastal, Intermediate Coastal, Advanced Coastal, Celestial, and Emergency Navigation. As an offshore instructor, he has led more than 20 offshore courses since 2021.
In 2017, Rob collaborated with Phil Morris of Wavelength Sailing to launch LearnToCruiseOnline.ca, which is Canada’s leading source of online sailing education, having trained over 1500 students in recent years.
As an Instructor Evaluator, Rob has contributed to the development of the evaluation materials for the SC Advanced Navigation standard, making significant contributions to the development of the exams for all modules.
His detailed sailing and instructor resume is available here:
https://robmclean.ca/sailingresume.html
Rob is available by email and phone to answer questions or provide additional coaching as needed.
5. How to subscribe
The subscription fee is set at CAD225.
The subscription covers access to online content for a 12 month period, email / phone support, access to a practice exam, the official exam marking fee, and the fee that SC assesses when your certification is processed. You should acquire the text and exercise books directly from marinenavigationbooks.com in the format of your choice.
To subscribe, please visit https://courses.learntocruiseonline.ca/login, and create a new account if you haven’t already done so. After logging in, you can then proceed to subscribe at this link: SC Emergency Nav ($225) Sail Canada Emergency Navigation