Narragansett, RI -- April 7, 2003 --Anyone just starting out in boating needs to be able to get from one point to another with some degree of confidence, skill, and safety. To help boaters achieve that goal, Friends of Oceanography at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography is offering a short course in Navigation for Beginners, given by avid sailor Arthur (Mac) Cuddy, president of West Bay Sailing, Inc., and former navigator for the Annapolis-Newport, Marblehead-Halifax, Newport-Bermuda, and Bermuda-Copenhagen races.

The course will be held on Tuesday evening, April 22, from 6-9 p.m. in the Coastal Institute Building on the URI Bay Campus in Narragansett.

Course participants will learn to use a nautical chart and learn what the abbreviations, symbols, colors, numbers, and contour lines mean. Cuddy will provide an introduction to the U.S. system of buoys, lights, and lighthouses, as well as the use of parallels and dividers, the compass, and other instruments. Course plotting and dead reckoning will also be introduced.

Cost for Navigation for Beginners is $25 for Friends of Oceanography members and $35 for non-members. Preregistration is required. For information or registration call Friends of Oceanography at 874-6642.

Friends of Oceanography is a community-based membership organization established in 1986 to support the educational and public programs of the URI Graduate School of Oceanography. Friends provides financial support of fellowships for GSO students, and other research, education, and outreach activities. The organization also helps sponsor a variety of special events such as oceanography lecture series, open houses at the Bay Campus, The JASON Project, and the National Ocean Sciences Bowl.