NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Learning Celestial
From: Lu Abel
Date: 2000 Nov 11, 7:03 PM
From: Lu Abel
Date: 2000 Nov 11, 7:03 PM
Folks: Recently there have been some pretty fundamental questions asked on this list, like "how do I learn celestial?" and the definition/calculation of some basic quantities like zone time/GMT offset. As usual lots of folks volunteered lots of useful information such as good navigation texts. But one other source of learning about celestial wasn't mentioned: the courses taught by the Power Squadron and the Coast Guard Auxiliary. I'm a 20-year member of the Power Squadron and they have an excellent pair of celestial courses (more properly, offshore navigation courses, since offshore navigation encompasses more than just sight reduction). I'm one of those types who learns much better in a classroom than by just reading a book. Like most, I was blessed with excellent, knowledgable, patient instructors. I'm now giving in return and teaching some of the courses. I would strongly urge the people asking these basic questions to consider joining their local Power Squadron or CG Aux. Both organizations require passing a basic boating safety course as a condition for joining (both orgs accept the other's course); if you know the basics you don't have to sit through the course to take the final. The Power Squadron has a series of four courses going from basic coastal navigation through advanced celestial. It used to be that you had to take and pass each course before proceeding to the next but they just changed their policy so that you can take any course anytime but you just don't get "credit" for it until you've passed the predecessors. If your coastal nav knowledge is good, you can certainly also challenge the course by simply by taking the final exam. If you prefer curling up with a good book, fine. If you prefer someone sharing his or her knowledge with you, I urge you to look into these fine organizations. Lu Abel (Pwr Sqdn Past Commander and Senior Navigator)