(LONG B EACH --- Oct. 6) --- "Do you want to be a navigator or a 'naviguesser,'?" asks Doug Conwell, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary instructor who'll be teaching a coastal-navigation course starting Oct. 16 in Los Alamitos.

The nine-week course, called Weekend Navigator, will teach boaters how to plot courses, how to find out where you are on the water, how to use a compass to take bearings, how to use a global-positioning satellite (GPS) device, and many other nautical skills.

"Most people depend blindly on GPS," Conwell said, "and, if you haven't kept your position on a paper chart, you're lost (if the GPS stops working)."

The two-hour classes starting at 7 p.m. will be at the Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, 11600 Los Alamitos Blvd.

The class is free, but the textbook costs $45. Also, students must have dividers and parallel rules, which can be bought at a retail store or from the USCG Aux. for $12 each.

For further information, email Conwell at saltydoug77@gmail.com; or call him at (562) 304-3497.