NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Back In Hobby: Some Questions, Please
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 2007 Apr 27, 22:25 -0400
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 2007 Apr 27, 22:25 -0400
People on this list mentioned that they found no understanding from bystanders/neighbors when they make CelNav observations from their lawns/streets/beaches. I found very little understanding when I took sextant shots from a small boat:-) To be sure, my skipper (who had the highest German yacht skipper license) had to pass a Cel Nav exam at some point. They were shown some plastic sextants and then had a written test in a classroom. This is required for the license in Gemrany. Together with computation of tides "with Admiralty tables" computation of compass deviation etc. He could not understand how a normal person can do this tedious exercises for pleasure:-) Alex. Alex On Fri, 27 Apr 2007, Alexandre E Eremenko wrote: > > > > Dear PF, > > > Perhaps the moral of this story > > is that successful practical navigation does > > not depend on great accuracy ... > > I agree. Columbus was a genius of practical navigation > but a very mediocre CelNavigator > (at least by later standards). > Pacific islanders were able to find tiny islands > thousands miles away with very rudimentary CelNav > no instruments and no "scientific knowledge" in > our sense. > > In fact I think that all these fine points of CelNav > have little bearing on practical navigation. > > And I also think that since approx 1980 Cel Nav has > no practical value at all. > > Still some people, including myself, > find some "intellectual fun" in analysing "performance" > of Cook's expedition sextants and clocks and observers. > The things which were perhaps of SOME (dubious) practical > value 200 years ago. > > Alex. > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---