Celestial Navigation? Forget it!

[sailandoar]

Well said !

[garrettav8or]

Interesting thread.....

I can't believe that someone would bash another for knowing or wanting to know how to use CN....wether it is needed or not...but to criticize knowledge of navigation is very telling....

Can GPS fail, sure it can....go on a 15 day crossing and lose pwr due to a blown buss or such on the 5th day and see how long those -AA- batteries last, the ones that have been in the warm, humid boat for who knows how long....good luck.

But really, whether it is needed or not, CN forces knowledge of charts, basic math, situational awareness, etc...that is mentally stimulating, challenging and enriching.

Riddle me this:

ALL other factors identical, you are offered one of two navigators for your offshore passage/race...one is ignorant of CN the other fluent at CN...

Who would you chose on your boat/ship/yacht and why?

Remember, all other factors equal....

Think about the 'why' in your answer...

Happy Sailing!

[Newport41]

I'll agree that there is little to no value for coastal sailors. But offshore cruisers are another story. It's unlikely that you'll ever need it but there's always that "incase ****" factor. As in, incase **** happens. Let's say lightning kills all electronics onboard, hard wired or hand held. Then what. I think the old DR is more practical but CN is good just so you don't get bored on long passages. Pirates don't steal sextants either.

[toddrtownsend]

When I go, in about three years, I will take a sextant. Call me crazy, but I have seen too many electrical gizmos release their magic grey smoke and stop working right when I need them most.

The arguement that you will never need it because of reliable modern technology could be used to argue for leaving the life raft at the dock; or the first aid kit; or waterproof matches; or the signal mirror . . . .

I don't buy it. The sextant will be my primary means of navigation.

TrT

[sailingdog]

Electronics and seawater aren't very compatible... seawater does far less damage to a properly built sextant.... I'd rather know I have a backup if the electronics decide to go belly up....better than hoping I can get there by luck...

[infonote]

Before going to a long passage, i would make sure i know how to navigate without electronic instruments.

I agree 100% with sailingdog, water and electronics do not mix

[sailingdog]

For the naysayers... what would you do if all the electronics on your boat get fried on a long South Pacific passage, where the next landfall target is a relatively small island, and you do not have enough water and food to make it should you miss said island.

If you miss the island, you may not encounter land for several thousand miles. Say you're 500 miles or so from the island—less than a week's passage for most boats—when your electronics get fried, and your course is off by just a degree or two... the chance of missing the island is relatively good. With dead reckoning, you can get relatively close if you can account for where you were to start with and compensate for any currents and leeward slippage made by your boat—and you knew exactly where you were when the electronics died. But what if the electronics died at night, when you were asleep...and you don't realize it for an hour or so? Are you willing to risk that? By the way, are you carrying a mechanical knotmeter—I didn't think so... so how do you know how fast you're going for the dead reckoning estimates???

With celestial navigation you have a tool that isn't dependent on those electronics? Now, some of you may say, but you need an accurate time piece to do celestial navigation.

True, but accurate mechanical watches still exist and are relatively inexpensive....even electronic watches exist, and there's a very good chance a well-built one would survive a lightning strike—provided you're not hit personally. If you're hit personally, I don't think that you really need to worry about much else.

[Tea-Rex]

would i go on a 2000 mile leg without sextant and all the rest needed to make use of it? no i wouldn't. you can interpret my answer as either not going without sextant or not going for that tiny island 2000 miles away.

if i'd go anyway i would at least make sure that there is enough food and water to go for some piece of land i CAN find without celestial navigation.

having said that, it's easy to describe hypothetical scenarios where one can't survive without a certain piece of equipment. you can't prepare for each and every possible accident or failure. even if you could pay for it all, your boat wouldn't be able to carry it.

it's easy to say "if you had taken a sextant you wouldn't have been in the brown stuff" after two or three GPS failed for one reason or another. the propability of failures like that are astronomical, and a sextant can break too.
sure as hell some people WILL get beaten by murphy's law, no matter how much money they spend to be prepared.


still i think it's dangerous that regular navigation classes today teach more "how to use a navigation computer" than navigation itself.

[Headingsouth]

I'm neither for or against Cn versus GPS - just a thought. How many of the firm Cn believers were swearing 20 years ago that they'd never get rid of their phonebooks, dictionaries, address books and rely on something called the "internet"?

[seabreeze_97]

"...it requires considerable skill and continuous practice to use it."

Sounds like sailing, in general.