Events - Event View

Our third and final Winter Forum for 2026 will be held on Thursday, 20 August at 6.30pm at the RYCT.

Annette Hesselmans will present Practical Navigation Skills and Passage Planning. Annette is an experienced and passionate offshore sailor, an RYA Yachtmaster Offshore (AMSA Sailing Master) and Instructor, and the founder of Paper Sailors Rock. She skippered Red Jacket in the 2018 Melbourne to Osaka double-handed non-stop yacht race, has sailed multiple Melbourne to Hobart Westcoasters, and completed the 2024 Sydney to Hobart and the 2025 Melbourne to Osaka double-handed aboard her Najad 490 Fika, with daughter Sophie Snijders as co-skipper. Annette and Fika are now based at the RYCT, where she offers classroom and practical sail training. The interactive session will run for approximately 90 minutes with ample opportunity for questions.

Pitched as a refresher and a workout for experienced navigators as much as a foundation for newer ones, the evening will explore:

PASSAGE PLANNING: the APEM approach — Appraise, Plan, Execute, Monitor
ELECTRONIC NAVIGATION: principles of operation and the limits of its use — accuracy and Horizontal Dilution of Precision, chart datum, satellite interference (jamming and spoofing), raster vs vector charts
THE BACK-UP: why a secondary means of position fixing matters, and how foundational methods complement the electronics
PAPER CHART WORK: fixes — three-point, running fix, contour lines and transits — and pilotage, including preparing a "mud map" for the places you can go bang: harbour entrances and exits
HANDS-ON: small-group work on training charts (provided), a quick quiz on buoyage, lights and the Collision Regulations, and two lively mini-debates — North Up vs Course Up on the chartplotter, and setting the depth sounder at the waterline vs under the keel

Please bring an HB pencil, an eraser, navigation dividers, a Portland course plotter and a hand bearing compass