Book Review: Sea Kayak Navigation - 2nd Edition by Franco Ferrero

For paddling instructors, Sea Kayak Navigation is a must have resource for teaching students as it has lots of resources and teaching ideas. When planning your lessons, you can use the mini quizzes and tests at the end of each chapter. The correct answers can be found on the Pesda Press website. The mini tests will help you gauge if your students are grasping the concepts and help you focus in areas that need more clarification.

Beyond the tests in the book, you will find lots of practical exercises to drive home the concepts. When planning your lesson, write down a couple of the quick exercises so when you are out on the water with your group, you can quiz them or demonstrate a real-life example of the lesson you did earlier on-land.

Finally, the real gem of this book is that Pesda Press will be making available many of the illustrations and charts used through the book on their website for free. At the time writing, they haven't been posted on the website yet, but I have been assured by the publishers that they will be posted them soon. Shortly you will be able download and incorporate them into hand-outs or powerpoint presentations to bring your lessons alive.

One thing to keep in mind for instructors using this book in North America is that there are a few differences between the UK navigation system and the Canadian/US "rules of the road". Some of the symbols and shipping lane rules vary slightly, but generally speaking, it isn't a huge problem. The science of navigation is the same wherever you are in the world and in my opinion, that's OK as the meat of the book is about navigation concepts rather then specific local rules.

If you are looking to hone up your own personal skills or to add some new teaching ideas to your library, Sea Kayak Navigation by Pesda Press will help you find your way back home.

You can get the book in your hands through a couple of various methods. Your local book shop can order the book for you. If you want to order online, Pesda Press offers worldwide shipping. The North American distributor is the Virginia Sea Kayak Center and they have it available as well for order.