Sixpack did the official Dutch Navigation Exam April 8, 2006

[Sixpack]

:ahoy:

......and succeeded with flying colors :know: :sunny:

I thought I had the right to brag here, if only today :smug:

So the investment of freetime during the last 6 months have not been invain ! And better yet, I dont have to do it again: Navigator for life :up:

This exam regards Theoretical Coastal Navigation (in Dutch TKN). I get the certificate in 3 week time.

Charts plotting, meteo, tides, streams, IALA-A, GPS, calculating depths, Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, signals and lights, surveying (compass to chart and vice versa), etc. etc. Serious stuff.

I tell ya I am glad to put that pile of books and charts back into my cupboard !!!!! :rock:

Virtual beers on me tonite :()1: :()1:

[Kapitan]

Congratulations :up: :up:

[Sixpack]

Thanks, you get an extra beer for being first :yep: ;)

[STEED]

Well done Sixpack the world is your oyster. Here’s to you. :()1: :up:

[Bill Nichols]

Congrats. I remember taking my navigation exam in the US Navy, it was a b_i_t_c_h !

[Konovalov]

Congrats. I understand that you are a very keen sailor. What exactly does passing this exam permit you to do? Can you now sail solo around the world? Do you aim to perhaps down the track undertake a long voyage on the worlds oceans? Again, well done. :yep:

[Etienne]

Congrats!

Did you have to do a morse exam?

[Abraham]

Well done, Flying Dutchman! :up:
Your fellow Hollander is proud of you.

We also understand that most of your controversial posting was nothing but letting off steam because of the intense stress you've been under...
:rotfl:

[Happy Times]

Congrats :up: Having next one for you :()1:

[Torplexed]

We get some of those ritzy Dutch floating hotels like the Oosterdam in town occasionally. Maybe I can get Sixpack a cushy job on the navigation deck......? :cool:

http://zioxville.homestead.com/files/HollandAmerica.jpg

[Kapitan]

How about he joins me if i get into RCCL

[Drebbel]

Van Harte !!!! SixPack !!!!

Congratulations !

[lesrae]

Well done mate.

[AceChilla]

Gefeliciteerd! :-j

[GunnersMate]

Congatulations! :up: No you can be cursed by Naval OOD's all over the world! :arrgh!:

[micky1up]

try doing the royal navy's submarine navigation training its a blast none of those computerised chart systems all manual !

[Sixpack]

Wow, thanks for the congrats, everyone. Still happy as a clam here.

Micky, this course and exam was actually about the OLD ways; all manual, just like our ancestors did, but with better charts. The Dutch call it "gegist bestek". Yet no astronavigation -later! would be awesome in Silent Hunter btw-, and morse neither (@Etienne). Its essence is to be able to navigate 100% independently of any electronic aids (which ofcourse could crash on a journey due to lightning, salt water a.s.o., or simply fail due to loss of electr.power, and to be able to better understand and be able to check the electronic results, ASO). So the GPS part was only a small part in this course. It was the old stuff plotting and no electr. charts.

@Konovalov: Right now I am just an average smalltime sailor who is happy with every chance (mainly due to 2 still little kids and a GF not too keen yet) to spend a day of freetime on the water, but with a big imagination. Later on in life I hope to be able to do some major sailing trips as in (some) oceans crossing, perhaps even solo. I will patiently (no, impatiently a.a.m.o.f.) await my time and meanwhile do whatever is a possible and a step in the right direction. Around the world isnt very likely, though.

[Abraham]

Great dreams, mate!
Cherish them, they might come true one day...
:up:

[Sixpack]

Great dreams, mate!
Cherish them, they might come true one day...
:up:

Oh, but they most definitely will if it's up to me ! Only health issues and premature death could stand in my way :-?

Btw Abraham, I joined the Nederlandse Vereniging van Toerzeilers last year. 30 euro and nice club magazines, events etc. Well worth the small investment. I also went to a weekend of this club last January packed with courses on various nautical subjects. Very nice.

[Abraham]

Thanks for the info, I'll check.
:up: