Hi Skip, FWIW: In the Northeast, boating courses are usually offered in spring at Adult Education at the local High School, also at some Community Colleges. Chapman's book, is the bible, which gives you all sorts of details on navigation, boat handling, anchoring, knots, sailing, docking, etc. Visit your local library to view a copy. Then there are all sorts of specialty books after you have learned the basics; Books on - anchoring - celestial navigation - tides - long distance cruising - weather analysis - boat storage - cooking underway - heavy weather sailing - and if you look long enough, you can even find out how to do laundry. If your library doesn't have these books, then check with International Marine Publishers, who publish a large number of these types of books. SAIL, CRUISING, both list publishers of, and book reviews of these types of books. Joyful sailing, Connie ex M15 #400