NavList:

Hi everyone,

A quick introduction from me - I'm a sailor from the UK, mostly sailing on the south coast and in the Solent, but living near Warwick (about as far from the sea as you can get!). I recently bought an Astra IIIb off ebay, from one Francis Upchurch - who pointed me in the direction of this forum when we spoke on the phone about it before the purchase. He was extremely polite and helpful, and I was excited to hear that he was an avid lunarian, as being competent with lunars was one of my goals when looking for a sextant to buy.

Upon more recent reading, I've discovered how active Francis was within this community, and the breadth and depth of his knowledge. I was sorry to hear of his ill health, but I am proud to own his sextant and hope to continue his legacy with lots of real-life celestial navigation of my own.

I have managed to make a start, with lunar distances of Mars and Jupiter on 31 January. It was so exciting to take the sights from my back garden, put the data into Frank's online calculator and show that I had made reasonably accurate measurements. I've followed this up a week later by working through the Stark forms, and after correcting a few mistakes in copying and arithmetic (made apparent by the online calculator) managed to make it all stack up. My first lunar!

Thanks again to Francis, and nice to meet you all.

Jonny

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