The new course distances of a ship are considered to be the indices to indicate directly her abilities of course altercation. Generally, they have long been calculated by using the maneuvering indices obtained from her Z test. However, at sea actually the maneuvering indices can not sometimes be obtained according to ship's condition or circumstances and the new course distances can not be calculated. To find out other method to calculate the new course distances, in this paper the author analyzed them from a viewpoint of ship motion, and worked out a numerical formula to calculate them easily, using the data of ship's heading test. In order to check whether the presented method is applicable to actual ships or not, the experiment by them were also performed. The results obtained are summarized as follow: 1. The mean difference of the distance between two new course distances by the heading test and the maneuvering indices of the experimental ship was about 0.98% values of the ones by the maneuvering indices, when her heading were 10。, 20。 and 30。, using the rudder angle of 15。. These new course distances were therefore found to be almost same in values of the distance. 2. The mean difference of the distance between two new course distances by the heading test and the observation of experimental ship was about 1.16% values of the ones by the observation, when her headings were 10。, 20。 and 30。, using the rudder angle of 15。. These new course distances were therefore found to be almost same in values of the distance. 3. It is confirmed that the new course distances can be calculated easily by using the method of ship's simple heading test, without the observation or using the maneuvering indices. 4. It is considered to be helpful for the safety of shiphanding to draw curves of new course distances by ship's heading test and utilize them at sea.

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