NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Celestial Navigation Weekend (Mystic: June, 2006)
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2005 Oct 6, 18:50 EDT
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2005 Oct 6, 18:50 EDT
Don Treworgy and I are tentatively planning a "Celestial Navigation Celebration" for the weekend of June 16-18, 2006 to be held at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut USA. This would essentially be a "fan convention" for celestial navigation enthusiasts and professionals with behind the scenes tours of the Seaport's navigational instrument collection, its library of historical documents, and talks and seminars (yes, including something on lunars). We'll also make the best of opportunities, weather permittin, to practice sights and compare instruments and techniques. While beginners would certainly be welcome, this "weekend of workshops" would be aimed primarily at those with some celestial navigation experience. As celestial fades rapidly into the pages of history, I see it as a chance to get a little press coverage, too, and perhap remind people of the lasting impact of celestial navigation and its continuing relevance. Incidentally, Don Treworgy is the Director of the Seaport Planetarium. He has been working there since it opened back in 1960, and he has been teaching celestial navigation for almost forty years. Imagine how perfect it must have been to be teaching celestial navigation and astronomy in a planetarium just two years after the release of the best Bowditch ever, two years after the perfection and unification of the modern Nautical Almanac, and three years after the launch of Sputnik... We'll get him to do at least one talk, probably on the techniques of teaching navigation with the benefit of a planetarium. Don has deep roots in Maine. His last name is originally Cornish (Tre- for farm, -Worgy for George, so Treworgy=George's Farm), and his family pronounces it like "Truer Gee". By the way, I know some of you were talking about the relative merits of Ebbco vs Davis sextants. If you can wait long enough, you can try an Ebbco. The Seaport Planetarium has a bunch. -FER 42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W. www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars