Navigation skills are only as good as the Sailor's ability to accurately
identify, locate, and measure reference points. Reference points are
identified by sight and/or electronic means. Nautical charts and reference
publications are used for verifying the accuracy of observed reference
points.

There are a number of Navigation skills a Sailor must know. There is
Celestial (Astro) Navigation, which is the determination of the Vessel's
position at Sea--with no land in sight--using the method of Plotting a
Course by the observation of heavenly bodies, deriving an Observed Position.
There is Coastal (Terrestial) Navigation, which is determining the Vessel's
position Off Shore--in sight of land--using the method of Plotting a
Course by sighting Landmarks and/or ATONs, deriving a Fix. Then, there
is Dead Reckoning, which is determining an Estimated Position from a
previous Fix or Observed Position. Determining an Estimated Position
also requires data from the Compass Course that was Steered, the
Vessel's Distance Made Good Through-The-Water, as registered by the
Log, and calculations of the effects of Leeway and the Tidal Stream.

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