NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Celestial Calculator Comparisons
From: David F. McCune
Date: 2000 Mar 10, 11:52 AM
From: David F. McCune
Date: 2000 Mar 10, 11:52 AM
Joe: I did a solo crossing to Hawaii from L.A. a few years ago. A sailor acquaintance, upon hearing that I have no navigational electronics and used celestial only, said "that's not very efficient." True. "If I wanted to be efficient," I said, "I'd have taken United Airlines." It's a SAILBOAT, for God's sake! People sail for all kinds of reasons. Some race. Some want to get somewhere with a sailboat in tow so they can hang out in a remote tropical anchorage. Some prefer the voyage to the destination. I'm a pilot and in airplanes I use electronics so they're coming out my ears. For me, a sailboat is a place to get away from all that. I don't own a GPS. Nor do I own a celestial calculator. Do whatever feels comfortable for you. - David PS. Oh, and by the way, it doesn't take as long as people think to reduce a sight. Once you've done a thousand or so, five minutes and a blank piece of paper will do. The hard part of a sight is standing on the deck of a 30-foot boat in a 12-foot swell with a sextant to your eye, not the trivial arithmetic that follows.
