NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Polar Sticks in "The Barefoot Navigator"
From: NavList Visitor
Date: 2025 Feb 27, 17:42 -0800
From: NavList Visitor
Date: 2025 Feb 27, 17:42 -0800
Perhaps I am making this too complicated. I have attached a diagram of a simple system I think might allow a sufficient vertical to be achieved in all directions by eyeball using two weighted lines (as in the plumb bob idea).
I also think that a string to obtain a consistent distance from eye is a good idea, but an alternative might be to hold the stick with both hands such that the apex of the triangle they form is in front of the observer. Any movement left or right then requires the shoulders to move, which is easy and obvious to control.
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