NavList:

Greg, you wrote:
"A simple check to a NA that is 4,8, or 12 years out of date would catch any dangerous errors in a NA forgery."

Yes. And when was the last time you checked the current Nautical Almanac against one from even a year ago, let alone 4, 8, or 12 years ago? Would any average navigator EVER think of such a thing in the middle of a sailing race to Tahiti? There's a very small chance that someone aboard one of the yachts might just happen to use an old almanac by chance, maybe someone aboard is just learning celestial and hasn't bought a new almanac. For that matter, maybe they brought aboard their own copy of the 2013 without telling anyone else. So yes, by this or similar methods, some small fraction, maybe one in ten, might discover the forgery.

I had a thought last night. If we actually tried this, and there were ten boats in the race sailing only by celestial to Tahiti, each using counterfeit almanacs directing them to Easter Island, I suspect anywhere from three to six of them would merrily arrive in Tahiti anyway, since cheating is so easy.

-FER

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