The most important rule in navigation is to frequently mark your position on the chart with the time.

Primary Questions

1. Where am I, in space AND time (without a start there can’t be an end)? The fix.
2. Where do I intend to go (final destination)? The course.
3. What affects my path to get there (weather, seas, tide, visibility, time)? The route.
4. How should I steer to follow those waypoints? The heading.

Tips to Remember:

1. The wind is described from its origin (i.e. direction)
2. Current is described by its direction (i.e. heading/bearing)
3. Large scale (zoomed in) charts = more detail
4. Small scale (zoomed out) charts = less detail

Boats have one bow wave, so the water track has one arrowhead; we walk on the ground with two feet so the ground track has two arrowheads, and the tidal stream arrow is the third one and has three arrowheads – just like the ripples on the water!