How to Use Plastic Sextants with Applications to Metal Sextants and a Review of Sextant Piloting

Author: David Burch
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780914025245
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 106

Book Description
Sextants are used to measure angular heights of celestial bodies above the horizon to find the latitude and longitude of the observer. They can also be used on land with artificial horizons. Sextants can also be used to find the correct Universal Time by measuring the angular distance between the moon and another body along its path across the zodiac. In coastal waters or on land, sextants can be used for very accurate piloting by measuring the horizontal angles between charted landmarks. The vertical angle of a peak above its baseline determines the distance to it, which, combined with a compass bearing, yields a position fix from just one landmark. The angular dip of an object (island or vessel) below the visible horizon can also be used to determine the distance to it. This booklet explains how to get the best results from plastic sextants, and presents numerical comparisons with similar data from metal sextants. Sextant piloting techniques are also reviewed as they are an ideal use of a plastic sextant.

Taking the Stars

Author: Peter Ifland
Publisher: Krieger Publishing Company
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Book Description
This text focuses on the history of the development of hand-held celestial navigation instruments, offering descriptions of the tools used. It also includes a glossary of technical terms.

Celestial Navigation for Yachtsmen

Author: Mary Blewitt
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1472906764
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 104

Book Description
The 12th edition of this bestselling book is proof of the success of Mary Blewitt's concise and clear style in explaining a particularly difficult skill, and it has been the bible for many generations of ocean navigators. Since this book was first published, the huge advances in electronic navigation have transported most offshore navigators to a world of press-button convenience. However, there is still a vital need for traditional skills when things go wrong: batteries can fail, aerials go overboard, and electronics have been known to get wet. A bestseller for over 50 years, Celestial Navigation for Yachtsmen is a model of simplicity and clarity. The worked examples require only straightforward addition and subtraction, which explains why this book has truly earned its reputation for admirable conciseness and for making a tricky subject easy to understand. 'The "bible" of navigation for generations of yachtsmen... worth its weight in gold' Sailing

Reed's Sextant Simplified

Author: Dag Pike
Publisher: Sheridan House, Inc.
ISBN: 9781574091687
Category : Sextant
Languages : en
Pages : 118

Book Description
The sextant is the treasured navigational device of generations of seamen and airmen. It enables position to be determined with good accuracy for ocean navigation, and it was the combination of sextant and chronometer that allowed safe navigation of the oceans for generations of seafarers. Despite the accuracy and ease of use of electronic navigation systems, every navigator should be able to use a sextant. It could even save your life in the event of electronics failure. This book describes how a sextant works, provides practical tips and advice on using it, explains how to read as well as take sights, how to make adjustments and correct errors, and finally advises on how to handle and care for the instrument. Book jacket.

Latitude Hooks and Azimuth Rings: How to Build and Use 18 Traditional Navigational Tools

Author: Dennis Fisher
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 9780070211209
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
Latitude Hooks and Azimuth Rings is for people who like to work with their hands and who appreciate traditional nautical craftsmanship. You don't have to be the master of any craft to undertake any of these projects--from a simple kamal or latitude hook to the more complex pelorus or octant--just a careful and enthusiastic worker. These 18 projects fall roughly into three categories: decorative, useful, and somewhere in between. Some, such as the astrolabe, are mainly for display. On the other hand, the sounding line is an important and practical tool for small-craft navigation, particularly in the absence of an electronic sounder. The cross-staff falls somewhere in between, equally at home in the den or the ditch kit. Each of the devices discussed here--with simple, proven building instructions complemented by clear illustrations--has at one time or another been used for the practical business of navigation, and each is worth reviving for its beauty, historic value, or sheer usefulness. Dennis Fisher has designed these projects with an emphasis on simplicity and reasonable cost. Everything can be scratch-built using easily obtainable materials and tools, and each is true to the spirit and function of the original instrument.

Practical Celestial Navigation

Author: Susan P. Howell
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493077015
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
Praised by The Practical Sailor as "a first-class piece of work," Susan P. Howell's Practical Celestial Navigation was developed for Mystic Seaport's navigation courses. This third edition, originally published by the Seaport's Planetarium, retains the step-by-step format of the original, along with an abundance of diagrams and practice problems. Practical Celestial Navigation is recommended as a self-instruction text for beginners or for old celestial hands getting back in practice.

Sextants at Greenwich

Author: W. F. J. Mörzer Bruyns
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191608904
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
Sextants at Greenwich consists of two main sections: The introductory chapters and the catalogue of navigating instruments of the National Maritime Museum. The first section gives a general overview of the history of celestial navigation with an emphasis on the instruments that were developed and used for that purpose, between about 1450 and the 1970s. The instruments in the catalogue form the main thread in these chapters. The catalogue consists of 347 entries of instruments for celestial navigation, the octants, sextants and related instruments preserved in the National Maritime Museum. Each entry includes the place of the object's origin, its maker, the object's date, inscriptions (by the maker and/or relating to an owner), the graduated scale, the instrument's dimensions and a general description that includes details such as used materials and detached parts. Finally the object's provenance (previous owners and/or users) and references to literature on its history and handling are given.

Brazil Cruising Guide

Author: Michel Balette
Publisher: Imray, Laurie, Norie and Wilson Ltd
ISBN: 1846239885
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 279

Book Description
Originally published in France, this cruising guide to Brazil has been produced to the same high standards as Imray's major pilot books.Over 250 harbours and anchorages are described and illustrated in full colour with charts and photographs. 2010 edition.

Sail and Rig Tuning

Author: Ivar Dedekam
Publisher: *Wiley Nautical
ISBN: 9781898660675
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 84

Book Description
A guide to tuning the sails and rigs of yachts and small keelboats, featuring step-by-step instructions and more than 150 illustrations.

The Nautical Sextant

Author: W. J. Morris
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780939837892
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Book Description
The Nautical Sextant reveals in pictures, prose, and perspective the experience and knowledge gained by the author from years of acquiring, studying, and restoring sextants from earlier times and from around the world. This fascinating book owes much of its attraction to the expert description and photos of the mechanics of the sextants and their subassemblies. It is also the story of how different manufacturers, in different times and places, solved the same mechanical problems in different ways in order to perfect one of the most accurate mechanical devices ever produced by man. All of this is complemented by an historical overview to the current day, an overview which has never been published until now. The Nautical Sextant will be of particular value not only to navigators, but also to restorers, collectors, students of technology, curators, and sextant dealers. With its bibliography and extensive use of footnotes, this book will certainly become a classic in its field.