Jane Ahlfeld teaches Navigation, Elements of Sailing, and Tall Ship Sailing at the WoodenBoat School in Brooklin, Maine. In the Navigation class, students start with chart reading and piloting, soon they are plotting courses, lines of position, and fixes. As the week progresses, they further develop their skills—learning about set and drift, running fixes, and circles of position. The week ends with an opportunity for the students to test their learning during a day-long voyage aboard GIZMO, a 37’ lobster yacht. Ben Ellison, who formerly taught at the WoodenBoat School, now writes about electronics, and GIZMO is loaded with many electronic navigation instruments. On a perfect summer day, the students get the chance to compare their results with the electronic readouts as they navigate their way from Camden across Penobscot Bay and down Eggemoggin Reach to Brooklin.
