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Thank you, George.

I've lurked on the list on and off for years.  But I've felt a bit
intimidated by the extensive and very deep knowledge of all things celestial
shown by members of the list.  I'm afraid I hardly know a logarithm from a
log.  I'm just a practical user of a sextant.  I'm grateful to Sumner,
Saint-Hilaire and the ancestors who computed H.O. 249 because when I'm tired
and wishing I were somewhere else they get me quickly to an intercept and a
chance to turn off the red lights and go to sleep.  And anything that weighs
less than H.O. 229 is good.  But I wouldn't have a clue how to create such
works of computational art.  Most of the contributors to the list know
vastly more about sextants, sight reduction and spherical geometry than I
ever will.  I just like to be alone with the moon at sea.

Anyway, I am currently dusting off my sextant, my pilot charts and my boat
in preparation for a solo voyage from Los Angeles to Sweden via Panama.
These past few months I have taken to looking at the stars once again as
something other than pretty lights.  Hence my renewed interest in the nav
list.

Any questions I may ask of the list may seem naive to those of you who are
experts.  In the same way that it is possible to fall in love without
understanding the neuroscience behind the emotion, so it is possible to
navigate with a sextant and the heavens without understanding the
mathematics behind the act.  I ask your pardon in advance.

Good luck and clear skies,

David

   

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