NavList:

Thanks!

My goodness you guys are good - yes, it is a Davis Mark 3 (my 'training' sextant, well, my only sextant), and it was showing around 3-5' of index error.  I did manage to fix it (I think), but I've found that now I've travelled with it from Mexico (where the photo was taken) back to Halifax, I can't get it to zero again.  Maybe it got knocked about or warped somehow (I don't have a case for it), or. more probably, I'm just doing something wrong.

Actually, I'm doing a lot wrong, as you'll see in the attached.  This is a cyanotype (photo developed using the sun) showing one of my attempts at a position fix.  The aim was a project where I took a sun sight every day, and then using the same sun, developed a photo of the chart showing my position.  I knew I would be 'off' (even though I wasn't moving), but I was unprepared for how off and how SLOW I was doing the calculations (it was sometimes a race to complete the art/photo portion before the sun went down).

The attached is one that shows me in Louisiana - where I was most definitely not.  I was actually in the small Mexican town of Sisal in the Yucatan.  But at least I still put myself in the Gulf of Mexico...sort of.

Carly

On 24 Mar 2015, at 18:12, "Greg Rudzinski" <NoReply_Rudzinski@fer3.com> wrote

Welcome aboard Carly !

The sextant images (Davis Mark 3 with sight tube ?) seems to be showing around 5' of index error off the arc. Were you able to zero that out ? 

Greg Rudzinski

From: Carly Butler
Date: 2015 Mar 24, 05:57 -0700

Hello all!

I have been eavesdropping on this forum for several months now - probably understanding less than 1% of what is discussed, but nonetheless inspired by your passion and vast knowledge.  

I come to the subject from a very different angle - that of an artist.  I did grow up sailing around Vancouver Island (I currently live in Halifax), and my father is a master mariner who has, with mixed results, tried to teach his daughter the basics of sextant use and navigation (though I'm realizing that books, and someone not related to me, may make this process less frustrating!).

My work is an ongoing documentation and exploration of the subject of navigation (and the weather), though often in the abstract.  I'm slightly obsessed with Bernard Moitessier and his way of making the practical aspects of sailing both poetic and philosophical. 

In any case, I invite you to view my current exhibition in Toronto entitled 'The captain knew too well where he was'  (which many of you may recognize as a Joshua Slocum quote - applicable, I think, to both navigation, and to life...)  http://www.juliemgallery.com/#!carly-butler-/c1opt

Thank you for letting me lurk and learn, and please forgive this off-topic posting...

All the best,
Carly

www.carlybutler.com

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