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Kenn Batt Marine Weather Kenn Batt joined the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in 1975 and has since worked as a meteorologist in most Australian States and Antarctica. For much of his 30 years in the weather game he has been an aviation and marine forecaster. Between 1989 and 2001 he worked as a marine and severe weather forecaster based in Sydney, NSW. He then worked as the Aviation and Defence Weather Services Manager for NSW/ACT for 3 years before moving to Canberra as Meteorologist-in-Charge of the Australian Capital Territory Meteorological Office. Kenn is a very accomplished yachtsman having been a member of representative teams at state, national and international levels over the years. He has participated in eight Sydney to Hobart yacht races (took handicap honours in 1993 on Wild Oats) and numerous other offshore races both in Australia and overseas (Kings Cup in Phuket, Gotland Runt in Sweden and Annapolis to Newport in the USA) and was forecaster for one of the Australian syndicates in the 1995 America's Cup as well as many other events. He was a yachting forecaster for the Sydney 2000 Olympics/Paralympics and has been for many years a weather adviser/forecaster to numerous centreboard and ocean racers around the world, including the Farr 40 circuit, BT Global and Whitbread now Volvo Ocean races. He has written a number of peer-reviewed scientific papers and also writes for a number of yachting magazines. Kenn has taught marine meteorology in a number of educational institutions, including the Sydney University, Australian National University and various yachts clubs around the nation. He has an Honours degree in Science and has completed a Masters degree in Meteorology. Kenn also has a Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment. He holds membership of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Sydney and the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania. He is also a member of the American Meteorological Society. He was awarded the Commonwealth Sports Medal in 2000 for services to the yachting community. |
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David Burch Participates in all Starpath courses David Burch is the author of the courses and director of the school. He has more than 60,000 miles of ocean experience ranging from the Arctic ice edge to Tahiti and Australia in the Pacific and from New York to Panama in the Atlantic. He has sailed across the Pacific to Hawaii ten times, three times winning the Victoria to Maui yacht race, and in 1984 setting the elapsed time record for that passage for vessels under 38 feet long (the record lasted sixteen years, but was beat in the 2000 race). The latest trip was the 2004 Pacific Cup. In powerboats, he delivered a 65-foot fishing vessel from New York to Seattle, via Panama and has made numerous coastal deliveries between WA and CA, AK, and Mexico. He navigated the only American entry (72-foot Cassiopeia) in the storm-ridden '93 Sydney to Hobart yacht race and has since navigated that vessel on the '96 Vic Maui and Swiftsure Lightship Classic when she won first overall in the latter. He holds a USCG masters license, 100 GT. He is the author of nine books on marine navigation and his magazine articles have appeared in Cruising World, Ocean Navigator, Sailing, and Sea Kayaker. His latest book is Radar for Mariners from McGraw-Hill, 2005; forthcoming is the second edtion of Emergency Navigation, also McGraw-Hill. His work has been recognized with the Institute of Navigation's Superior Achievement Award for outstanding performance as a practicing navigator, and by a USCG citation for his successful weather and vessel performance analysis used in a search and rescue operation. On the academic side, he is a past Fulbright Scholar with a Ph.D. in physics. Looking ahead, his goal is to sail the Northern Sea Route over the top of Russia. The trip has been planned in much detail for many years, but still hangs in limbo, waiting the proper conjunction of events. |
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Lee Chesneau Marine Weather Lee graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1972 with a BS Degree in Meteorology and concurrently received a commission as Ensign in the US Navy. Naval duties extended over seven years, serving on the aricraft carriers USS Saratoga and USS Guam. He served as Combat Information Center Watch Officer, performed watches as Officer of the Deck, and as ship's Meteorological Officer. He also served shore side tours at what is now known as Fleet Meteorological and Oceanographic Command Centers as Forecast Duty Officer and Command Duty Officer. After leaving active duty and subsequent work at Oceanroutes, Inc., where he advised and routed commercial ships on a global scale, and work as NWS marine forecaster in Seattle, WA, he landed with his present employer of 16 years, NOAA's Ocean Prediction Center, keepers of North Atlantic and Pacific HF weather fax broadcasts, the Boulder WWV, Offshore NAVTEX, and GMDSS SafetyNet High Seas text broadcasts. As an educator and instructor, Lee has developed formal marine weather courses such as the "Basic Meteorology for the Officer in Charge of a Navigation Watch," tailored for the AB to Mate program, and the "Chief Master Mate Upgrade Advanced Meteorology" course for continuing education and training professional maritime schools. These courses are part of the International Maritime Organization's Certification and Watch Standing (STCW) requirements. His training materials are used by several insitutions, nationwide. Lee has taught courses and presented lectures and seminars on marine weather in numerous venues around the country and is a regular presenter at boat shows around the country and safety at sea seminars for ocean yacht races, such as Newport to Bermuda, Annapolis to Bermuda, and TansPac. During his career he has provided detailed marine weather and oceanographic warnings, analyses, and forecasts on a global, as well as synoptic and smaller micro-scale, covering all oceans and seasons. Lee has developed a keen awareness of the issues that confront mariners, their vessels of all types, from commercial to recreational. His at sea time on two aircraft carriers, a Pacific Ocean crossing on a container ship weather, and a several sail boat races has enhanced the knowledge of the air and ocean systems that impact both safety and tactical decision making. Lee is committed in ensuring that mariners make educated decisions based on safety and tactical considerations using readily available weather and oceanographic forecast information. |
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Bill Cook Instrument Specialist William J. (Bill) Cook has managed the Precision Instruments & Optics Department of 109-year old Captain’s Nautical Supplies for 19 years. Retiring from the Navy as a Chief Opticalman, he immediately began freelancing his skills, and has provided technical, engineering and consulting services for the Navy, Coast Guard, NOAA, NASA, Yerkes Observatory and the Smithsonian Institution, among others. Bill has manufactured lenses for the Navy’s 120mm “big eyes” binoculars and telescopic alidades as well as sextant mirrors and prisms for C. Plath Navigation. Today, he is recognized as America’s most authoritative voice on the repair and restoration of binocular, sextants, compasses and other opto-navigational instruments. In 1991, he began publishing his own telescope making and optical engineering journal that, in its 10-year run, was welcomed into the libraries of universities and observatories in 54 countries. In 2003, he culled the best articles from the journal and turned them into two 450-page books. Today, Bill writes for a wide variety of publications, and his articles on binoculars, navigational instruments and maritime history have appeared in dozens of marine magazines including: Ocean Navigator, Sea, Sea History, Sailing, Nor’Westing, 48 Degrees North and Latitudes & Attitudes. A member of the Society for Technical Communication and the prestigious American Society of Journalists and Authors, Bill has earned bachelors degrees in Journalism and History and plans to start a masters in Education program in the near future.
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Pam Hom Navigation Rules and navigation in general Pam Hom retired from 27 years of sailing as a mariner (17 years as Master) on various types of vessels; from crab boats in the Bering Sea to tug boats in the Gulf of Alaska and high-speed ferries as well as sail boats around the world and tankers in the Mediterranean. She holds licenses for unlimited tonnage and oceans and has served as an apointee on two federal advisory groups to the USCG (NAVSAC & MERPAC). Pam founded, owned and operated a navigation and license exam prep school for 13 years. Ms. Hom is still active in the maritime industry as a part-time marine arbitrator and mediator. |
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Steve Lowney, MD Onboard Navigation and Medicine at sea Dr. Steve Lowney is an expert in orthopedic, emergency room, and wilderness medicine, as well as a highly experienced mariner and navigation instructor (What past students say). He is one of the instructors of our underway navigation course on the F/V Aimee 0 (charting, ENS, radar, watch standing, piloting, and DR) and is the author and instructor of our forthcoming course on Medicine at sea, which is designed to prepare offshore sailors for treating medical issues at sea, including preparation, supplies, radio sources underway, and accident prevention underway. Steve is a racing and cruising sailor, with transoceanic voyages and extensive knowledge of the Inside Passage. |
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Steve Miller Celestial Navigation, Inland and Coastal Navigation Captain Stephen Miller earned his Coast Guard Masters License in 1989 after 25 years of sailing the East Coast of the United States. He spent 6 years in the U.S. Naval Reserve and specialized in Celestial Navigation while on active duty. Years of sea time in the Navy and aboard his own sailing vessels have allowed him to enhance his skills in Celestial as well as Coastal Navigation. For the six years after obtaining his License, Captain Miller was an Instructor for Sea School Northeast, passing on his Navigation knowledge while preparing his students for their Coast Guard Exams. Captain Miller, in June 1999, became the Navigation Instructor at the Chapman School of Seamanship, where he teaches primarily Celestial Navigation. He is a member of the Foundation for the Promotion of the Art of Navigation. He also holds ASA Celestial Level Instructor certification and teaches ASA courses at the Chapman School of Seamanship. |
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Steve Morrell Onboard Instructor Steve Morrell brings a wealth of experience to our cruises. Raised in San Francisco, Steve now lives in Mt. Shasta, California with his sweetheart and their two cats. He completed his Master's degree in zoology at UC Santa Barbara. He spent the next ten years studying seabirds and marine mammals on islands of California, Alaska and Antarctica. Seeking a new direction in his life, Steve accepted an offer to work on a fishing boat in Southeast Alaska for a summer. He was captivated by the wilderness and moved to Alaska. Steve spent eighteen summers salmon fishing (mostly in Southeast Alaska with Chad) interspersed with occasional work as a biologist. He acknowledges that his favorite parts of fishing are exploring the waters and forests of Southeast Alaska and watching the fish and wildlife. He looks forward to sharing the excitement and beauty of this wild country with our guests. Steve has his USCG Master's license as well as CPR and first aid training. |
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Robert H. Nicholas, Jr. Navigation Rules Robert H. Nicholas, Jr., is an admiralty attorney with Baker & Hostetler in Houston TX. He has extensive experience in all areas of maritime law, including collision cases, conversion of vessels, sales and financing of vessels, towage, shipyard construction, regulatory compliance issues, and state and federal environmental laws impacting ocean and inland marine operations. He is the author of A Guide for Investigating Marine Casualties (1985). He is an expert on the Navigation Rules, both from the perspective of commercial vessels and as a recreational boater. He has frequently taught the use and interpretation of the Navigation Rules to recreational boating organizations, and can annotate and reference any issue that might arise in our online Nav Rules discussion with practical as well as legal insight and specific court cases. |
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Hewitt Schlereth Celestial Navigation, Inland and Coastal Navigation Hewitt Schlereth is a longtime sailor and author of six celestial navigation books, most recently of Celestial Navigation in a Nutshell. His first book, Commonsense Celestial Navigation sold nearly 30,000 copies. Hewitt grew up in Larchmont, NY, racing one-design boats and after college began distance racing in a 24-foot MORC yawl. He progressed to offshore cruising and racing and has been navigator on many cruising, racing and delivery passages to Bermuda, Halifax and the Virgin Islands. Professionally, he is a NAMS certified marine surveyor, has managed a boatyard, been editor of BOATING magazine and a freelance teacher of coastal and celestial navigation. He is a member of the Foundation for the Promotion of the Art of Navigation. |
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Luis Soltero Marine Weather, High Seas Communications, Celestial Navigation Luis R. Soltero received a B.A. in Chemistry (1981), a M.A. in Computer Science (1985) and a Ph.D in Nuclear Magnetic Spectroscopy (1990) from Rice University in Houston, Texas. He also received the Z.W. Salsburg Award for excellent achievements and outstanding scholarship and he was also a Danforth Fellow. While at Rice he taught in both the Chemistry and Computer Science departments, as well as supervised graduate students doing special projects in computer science. He later served as a Research Scientist and Network Manager. Luis is the founder of Global Marine Networks, LLC which develops and delivers wireless data services to users in remote locations via satellite technology. Within the first year innovative products such as XGate, Ocens.Mail and WeatherNet have already set new industry standards for providing reliable, fast data services. He is the primary resource for all questions related to the WeatherNet system of obtaining weather data at sea, which is recommended in the Starpath Online Weather course, as well as other issues of high seas communications. Luis's maritime products are unique as they have resulted from the first hand knowledge gained from offering services for marine computers since 1992. He has extensive offshore experience and has lived and worked in the marine environment in many countries for over 10 years. He has in depth experience and knowledge in designing and installing and maintaining global communications systems for vessels including electronic navigation, SSB installation, offshore vessel to internet e-mail and weather acquisition. Additionally he created in collaboration with Starpath School of Navigation the StarPilot line of navigation computers for both PC and handheld calculators, which are the state of the art in celestial computations for mariners. Luis is a frequent consultant to industry. For IBM Puerto Rico and IBM Trinidad he designed he installed and maintained integrated solutions based on TCP/IP networks and RS6000 for IBM and many IBM clients. He is fluent in Spanish and English. |