NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: David C
Date: 2018 Oct 3, 20:45 -0700
Frank wrote
I usually avoid the Sumner name because, like the expression "time sight", it's associated in the minds of many navigators with antiquated practice. It shouldn't be -- it just is. It all depends on your audience.
I am part of the audience that enjoys the tradition of CN. I am proud to say that I have drawn a Sumner line, performed a long by chron and reduced sights using the haversine formula and Nories tables. Decades ago thousands, if not tens of thousands, of mariners were daily using CN in one form or another. Today professional navigators who use CN do it for a hobby. I believe that it is a privilage to be able to practice a redundant skill.
Forget that many of the masters in the attached image will not survive the voyage. Instead contemplate that they are all professional navigaters, not viewers of gps screens. It is images such as this that make me interested in CN. Maybe I have a romantic point of view but aren't old skills worth preserving?
To put things in perspective -- a few days ago my family gave me a new phone for my x0th birthday. I now have access to four GNSS networks plus several regional constellations. Travelling home on the bus today I tracked my position and speed with 26 satellite in use. If you want to know your position why would you choose CN over GNSS?
