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David F. McCune writes:
 > Joe:
 >
 > I did a solo crossing to Hawaii from L.A. a few years ago.  A sailor
 > acquaintance, upon hearing that I have no navigational electronics and used
 > celestial only, said "that's not very efficient."  True.  "If I wanted to be
 > efficient," I said, "I'd have taken United Airlines."  It's a SAILBOAT, for
 > God's sake!

Amen!

 > People sail for all kinds of reasons.  Some race.  Some want to get
 > somewhere with a sailboat in tow so they can hang out in a remote tropical
 > anchorage.  Some prefer the voyage to the destination.

Amen!

 > I'm a pilot and in airplanes I use electronics so they're coming out my
 > ears.  For me, a sailboat is a place to get away from all that.  I don't own
 > a GPS.  Nor do I own a celestial calculator.
 >
 > Do whatever feels comfortable for you.

Amen!

 > - David
 >
 > PS.  Oh, and by the way, it doesn't take as long as people think to reduce a
 > sight.  Once you've done a thousand or so, five minutes and a blank piece of
 > paper will do.  The hard part of a sight is standing on the deck of a
 > 30-foot boat in a 12-foot swell with a sextant to your eye, not the trivial
 > arithmetic that follows.

And amen yet again!  The reductions are cookbook work (yes, knowing
*why* something is done helps in both cooking and celestial reductions
- pun intended).  Getting the sights are the real challenge.

Rick
S/V One With The Wind, Baba 35

   

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