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    Sextant handle/legs on wrong side?
    From: Paul Hirose
    Date: 1999 Sep 13, 12:31 AM

    Bruce Bauer's "The Sextant Handbook" brings up an interesting point I
    never considered: a sextant handle on the right is on the wrong side
    for right-handed people.  The sextant has to be transferred to the
    left hand or dangled on a neck strap in order to write down the
    observation.  He equates this to a right-handed baseball player
    wearing a mitt on his right hand.
    
    Bauer once encountered a 1920s sextant with everything on the opposite
    side from current practice.  It didn't feel at all uncomfortable to
    hold in his left hand, he says.  I certainly never felt handicapped as
    a lefty because I had to observe with the sextant in my right hand.
    And yes, it IS nice to keep the sextant there while I'm writing!
    
    Another complaint Bauer has is that sextant legs are on the wrong side
    too.  I.e., the handle is underneath when the instrument is resting on
    its legs.  Putting the legs on the opposite side would let you pick it
    up with one hand.  Also, the legs would provide some protection for
    the delicate parts.
    
    Someone mentioned seeing a movie in which Kate Jackson put a sextant
    down on its mirrors.  Do you think the lady was trying to tell us
    something?
    

       
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