David Burch is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation in London as well as a Fellow of the
Institute of Navigation in Washington, DC, from which he received the Superior Achievement Award
for outstanding performance as a practicing navigator. He has logged more than 70, 000 miles at sea,
including twelve transoceanic yacht races, with several first place victories and a passage record for
boats under 36 feet that lasted 16 years. He also navigated the only American entry in the storm-ridden
1993 Sydney to Hobart Race.
On the academic side, he is a former Fulbright Scholar with a PhD in physics. As Founding Director
of Starpath School of Navigation in Seattle he has designed courses and taken part in the teaching of
marine weather and navigation for more than 30 years. He continues to work on the development of
online training materials, which are presented at starpath. com. Articles on special topics in navigation
and weather appear at starpath. com/articles.