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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Sextant handle/legs on wrong side?
From: Paul Hirose
Date: 1999 Sep 13, 12:31 AM
From: Paul Hirose
Date: 1999 Sep 13, 12:31 AM
Bruce Bauer's "The Sextant Handbook" brings up an interesting point I never considered: a sextant handle on the right is on the wrong side for right-handed people. The sextant has to be transferred to the left hand or dangled on a neck strap in order to write down the observation. He equates this to a right-handed baseball player wearing a mitt on his right hand. Bauer once encountered a 1920s sextant with everything on the opposite side from current practice. It didn't feel at all uncomfortable to hold in his left hand, he says. I certainly never felt handicapped as a lefty because I had to observe with the sextant in my right hand. And yes, it IS nice to keep the sextant there while I'm writing! Another complaint Bauer has is that sextant legs are on the wrong side too. I.e., the handle is underneath when the instrument is resting on its legs. Putting the legs on the opposite side would let you pick it up with one hand. Also, the legs would provide some protection for the delicate parts. Someone mentioned seeing a movie in which Kate Jackson put a sextant down on its mirrors. Do you think the lady was trying to tell us something?