Skipper to be, please help me figure out VAR & DEV!
Hey there! I’m currently studying for my skipper exam in Croatia. I bought a training chart from and tried to solve one of the navigation exercises, but I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.
This is the task:
We are sailing from Donja Punta (Rab) to Koromačna (Cres). What is the compass course?
The true course I measured is 278°, which is the easy part.
The next step should be applying the magnetic variation to get the magnetic course. The chart shows a variation of 3° East.
My understanding is:
“West is best, east is least.”
So with an easterly variation, I should subtract it:
278° − 3° = 275° magnetic course
Then I still have to consider the deviation table. For the closest magnetic course listed (273°), the table gives a deviation of −9°.
So my calculation is:
275° − 9° = 266° compass course
That would be my solution.
How on earth does the book arrive at a compass course of 273°?