Celestial Navigation: Learn How to Master One of the Oldest Mariner's Arts

by Tom Cunliffe

Overview

Celestial navigation is one of the oldest of the mariner’s arts – and one of the most awe-inspiring. It is also essential for every ocean sailor who wants to be able to fix his position should the GPS fail. Tom Cunliffe shows you how to master the art in easy stages. Within a few pages you’ll be taking your first sight. From there it is a short step to plotting your position, wherever you may be on the world’s oceans. Whether you need to pass an exam, want a back-up to GPS positioning or simply choose to delight in the wonder of the cosmos, this is the perfect guide. With photographs, charts and diagrams to help your learning, you will be able to master the sextant and navigate using the sun, moon, planets and stars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470666333
Publisher:	Fernhurst Books
Publication date:	09/13/2010
Series:	Celestial Navigation
Edition description:	3rd edition
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.40(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Tom Cunliffe is Britain’s leading sailing writer. He is a worldwide authority on sailing instruction and an expert on traditional sailing craft. His hints and tips could help all yachtsmen!

He has crossed oceans in simple boats without engines or electronics and voyaged to both sides of the Atlantic from Brazil to Iceland and from the Caribbean to Russia. He has cruised the coast of America and Canada and logged thousands of miles exploring both sides of the English Channel.

Tom’s nautical career has seen him serve as mate on a merchant ship, captain on gentleman’s yachts and skipper of racing craft. His private passion is classic sailing boats and he has owned a series of traditional gaff-rigged vessels that have taken him and his family on countless adventures from tropical rainforests to frozen fjords.

Tom has been a Yachtmaster Examiner since 1978 and has a gift for sharing his knowledge with good humor and an endless supply of tales of the sea.

He also writes for Yachting Monthly, Yachting World and SAIL magazines, and wrote and presented the BBC TV series, The Boats That Built Britain.

Table of Contents

Introduction; The Earth & the Heavens; The Sextant; The Noon Sight for Latitude; Time; Position Lines & Plotting; Tables; Sun Sights; The Planets; The Moon; The Stars; Polaris - the Pole Star; Compass Checking on the Ocean; The Shortest Way

Editorial Reviews

Tom's warm and humorous writing style makes the book easy to digest, while still explaining the subject in detail.” (Yachting Monthly)
“He writes with the authority of a man who knows that his methods work in the most testing of all examination rooms, a small boat sailing on the open ocean.” (Bill Anderson, Formerly RYA Training Manager)
“Gives concise and well-written groundings in the theory and practice of astro-navigation. With the aid of some excellent diagrams and photographs, he explains how to use – and care for – a sextant, take sights, calculate latitude and plot position. He throws in some good worked examples to help, and the book is reinforced by online video tutorials and downloadable blank calculation sheets… Its admirable simplicity and brevity make it a valuable tool.” (Telegraph, Sep 2019)

From the Publisher