You can go boating in your backyard without any formal knowledge of navigation. But why limit yourself to the waters you know?
In Navigation at speed Tim Bartlett explains how to read a navigational chart and how to relate it to the real world.
He shows you how to work out where you are and where you're going, how to predict the tides and currents and how to understand the buoys and beacons that will guide you into a new harbour.
He even tells you what to do if you get lost!