Wanted: Solid navigation training!

You're well and truly piquing my interest as to what this friend of your has planned...

It depends on what you actually want but OTNZ Canterbury runs basic bushcraft courses. If you contact them, they might be able to suggest a good instructor specifically for navigation. (Some kind of payment or donation might be wanted in exchange for instruction.) http://www.outdoortraining.nz/courses/courses.php#canterbury Be mindful that navigation is one of those things where experience over time normally helps. A course by itself without lots of follow-up and application of the skills probably won't produce a great navigator.

I had a mate show me the rudiments of using a compass with the grid bearing method about 23 years ago. When I was on my southern traverse all I could remember was that when the red end of the needle was pointing at 21 degrees (as it was then) then the north was indicating grid north. With that fact in mind, using logic I was able to do all the tasks of navigating e.g. setting a bearing both on and off the map and following bearings etc.

Izogi is quite correct, if a little understated. I wouldn't place my trust in a 2-week old navigator. Compass navigation doesn't require much training - Silva have a 3 point instruction guide (and a slightly more detailed product instruction manual). It's a skill - good (ie accurate) compass navigation requires practice - not a lot, but more than a day. Sorry, not much help for your friend but, for future reference, download (eg) Silva's compass instruction manual, read, then practice, practice, practice. Compared to compass work, a GPS requires a little more knowledge and a bit less practice. Lots of on-line guides but, still, some practice is required before relying on it 'in the wild'.

The goal, roughly speaking, is to be able to follow tracks that on occasion turn into routes that are sometimes poorly marked, and on occasion not at all for a while; in typical New Zealand tramping environments; usually not very far above the treeline and not for very long durations, and mostly below it. Entirely free ranging off track / off route navigation is not the goal. Agree very much that time can help with experience. At the same time, I have met plenty of people who have spent half a lifetime in the bush, still haven't learned anything much because they had no one to learn from whose skills were well founded, and pretty much only came back alive all those years because a lot of the time people who go out there simply get lucky. For a newcomer, I think it's not the worst approach to treat oneself to a solid does of high intensity quality training to begin with to get a head start in the right direction, and then mindfully build on that step by step over time. Ha Honora, yeah I had a similar experience in the Australian outback more than a decade ago (when I was probably not very far sighted...). Got lost for half a day on a three day trip that entirely depended on the water I was carrying for the entire trip. Eventually climbed a tall rock to have a good vantage point, sat down with map and compass, and stayed there until I had figured out where I needed to go with the few landmarks that were on the horizon. Not the most relaxing way to learn navigating... I firmly believe in carrying everything you need to stay out there safely a day or two longer than you are planning, including food, fuel, and a very reliable shelter that will see you through the night even above the treeline if need be (broken ankle type scenario). Equipped like that, there is less pressure to get anywhere in a hurry if you run into navigation issues. E.g. if the fog comes in, you just set up camp and wait it out. If you get lost in the afternoon - set up camp, sleep on it, and start with a fresh brain in the morning. If you still can't figure it out on the second day - set up camp again in the afternoon, repeat. If you run out of fuel or food after a few days, it's legitimate to call for help with a 406 in my opinion. With enough supplies and good decision making, you are pretty unlikely to end up in a life threatening situation, even if you totally mess up navigating. Of course, practising to begin with is the golden way - which is what my friend is after :-)

You very seldom have to use a compass anyway. It's the map skills that are the important thing, especially being able to orientate a map using a compass if there is no visibility or if it's tricky to use the landmarks you can see. My main use of the compass has been to set a direction of travel (bearing) and then follow it and of course this is not on a poled route even. The MSC used to run a lot of courses on Dracophyllum Flat on the Craigieburn Range. The flat enables good practice in following a bearing. There's a muddy clearing at the abrubt change of direction of the track down to there from Jack's Pass (600m NW of Bridge Hill). This is a really good place to travel travelling on a compass bearing as the catching feature is a paddock so no chance of getting lost. I used to run this exercise at night-time to give the participants the opportunity to trust their skills. The clearing is just on the edge of the plateau before the track drops steeply to Broken River.

Ha, I wrote a lengthy reply that said much the same thing - map competence is no. 1, the compass skills (particularly in much of NZ) less critical - for some reason, when posted, it didn't upload. Mind you, in much of Aus it's a different thing - distances are longer, mountains rounder, valleys shallower and the tops more extensive - compass navigation is a more critical skill. I do think it would be preferable for the OP's mate to read the basics and do some self-directed practice. Then, if professional training is still thought necessary, it will make more sense. Taking a bearing and using back-bearing to locate yourself on the map is all that's needed (and how to allow for magnetic declination).

Thanks for the pointers - would largely agree regarding map / compass etc. In New Zealand anyway. Yes, self training seems to make sense with navigation to start with, true. Thanks for the tip re Dracophyllum Flat! Good to have a place that's so suitable to practise. Thanks heaps for your input!

I've done, what I think is, quite a bit of off track navigation and travel on poorly marked and indistinct tracks. The number of times I have used my compass (which I still always bring with me) is precisely zero. Its all about reading the map and learning where you think the track would be in relation to the topography, or finding what you think is the best route when off track mixed in with a small amount of dumb luck. But yes, using a compass in conjunction with the map is a nice skill to know.