Certification Programs

We offer several options for certification in Coastal Navigation, Celestial Navigation, Radar, and Weather. The Starpath certification, which also includes certification from the International Association of Sailing Schools (ISSA), is accomplished from a take home test after the courses are completed. This certification is recognized worldwide.

Our Starpath certification tests are also designed to prepare students for similar tests from other agencies. We can arrange for students to take the appropriate tests from other agencies such as the ASA and US Sailing. The latter two are proctored exams, which can be scheduled to be given in your local library if you do not have an appropriate facility nearby. Each would be offered through a certified US Sailing or ASA facility.

Read about the difference between licensing and certification and some of the values of certification

Step 1. When doing the courses, save all of your work and do not erase the charts or plotting sheets. This will be your best source for review for the certification quizzes, and we may request to see your original chart work and computations if needed to compensate for test scores. It is also the best way for you to document your work later on if it might be useful.

Step 2. At the end of the course, purchase the certificate application and we will provide you with access to the online link to the certification tests, where you can download and print the test. You can use any materials or references you like, but you should do your own work. This test will take approximately 4 to 6 hours to complete. It need not be done at one time, you have 3 months to complete the work. The Inland and Coastal Nav test is worked on the same chart we use for the course. The celestial test uses the same almanac pages as used in the course. The certification fee is $30 plus shipping fees—the tests are distributed and submitted electronically, but we may still have logbooks or other documents to ship back and forth to complete the certification.

Step 3. When the test is done and you have double checked your answers, return to the link where you downloaded the test, transfer your answers to that online test, and submit them to us. There is also a place to include a list of any questions or comments that might have arisen during the test. If you already have a log book that you wished to be signed directly, then send that to us at this time. Otherwise we provide signed logbook stickers you can insert on your own.

Step 4. We will grade the exam, provide the solutions, and answer questions that may have arisen during the test. If the 75% score has been achieved, we will record your certification and mail back your certificate, which is a diploma stating the contents of the course and notes on Starpath. We also include a Starpath sticker documenting the certification that will fit into most training record log books in the "Extra Training" sections. These tests also qualify you for ISSA certification, which would just require a logbook purchase.

If you do not make the 75% score on the first try, you can apply to take the test again, or, at our discretion, we can offer you a few extra questions to solve in the problem areas.

To apply for certification

We recommend that you purchase the certification at the end of the courses, but the application can be purchased at any time at this link: Order Certifications page. If you do not already have one, the ISSA certification requires an ISSA logbook. This logbook provides a convenient way to document your training, and it supports a worthy organization, but it is not required for the Starpath certification itself.

International Sailing Schools Association Starpath School of Navigation is a long standing member of the ISSA and can therefore offer course completion certification stickers for the ISSA logbook to document any of our training programs. We have these available in Celestial Navigation, Coastal Navigation, Marine Weather, and Radar. The ISSA logbooks are in English, French, and Spanish; they are recognized worldwide. See International Sailing Association. ISSA certification is automatically included with any Starpath Certification. An ISSA logbook is required if you wish record this aspect of the documentation.