Learning celestial navigation?

[Sail Sail]

Here's a great video that will help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PefHBhl4lRg

[skipperpete]

Not to be too negative but if that was all the knowledge required to calculate a position I’d be a happy sailor, he forgot to mention any of the error corrections or the importance of recording the precise time on the chronometer at the exact time of the altitude. I did the whole damn course for a year and only got to physically using a sextant at the end.

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by skipperpete

Not to be too negative but if that was all the knowledge required to calculate a position I’d be a happy sailor, he forgot to mention any of the error corrections or the importance of recording the precise time on the chronometer at the exact time of the altitude. I did the whole damn course for a year and only got to physically using a sextant at the end.

To be fair Pete, that video is simply one in a long series of videos that are on their channel. They've broken celestial navigation down into different 'chapters' somewhat like a book and each has a chapter. That one posted here is obviously the how to use the sextant to take a sight chapter. And yes I agree, somewhat superficial.

And yes it's a long course and taking sextant sights is well down towards the end. In our course we had to learn the maths, (rather than tables) to find our position on Earth.

[skipperpete]

Thanks for that grantmc, I was a bit harsh and started from the wrong end of the video series , I guess the more important stuff is in other videos. I’m happy to see that cruisers are still taking celestial nav seriously.

[SeanPatrick]

Yeah, this guy has a lot of great videos on celestial navigation. He's one of the best presenters of the topic, IMHO.

[Mickeyrouse]

I’ve had cheap plastic sextants and respectable Astrals for almost fifty years. I’ve read books, watched videos, taken courses and I know no more now than when I started. Affordable,tt LORAN came along and it was convenient to put off the commitment to reslly lesrn, when tge time came that I was really gone to need accurate navigation, $200 Magellan GOS was on the market. The “why bother with celestial” was then just a slight nudge away. I nudged.
I have a lot of respect for celestial navigators, but by the tables, almanac updates, plottingee charts, etc, and a chronometer get bought, GPS isGPS is just cheapet, fastdr, and and much more accurate- and thus

[Fore and Aft]

Sail Sail Maiden Factor put out some great sextant videos. Now if Hadley put out a fibreglass grinding video and antifouling video she would be my dream lady.
Cheers

[mottseng]

This is great and I agree that all sailors should at least learn the basics of celestial navigation. If for no other reason than to have something to talk about. Learning something new is never a bad thing.

[MicHughV]

Learning from a book or video is tough....best way to learn is to have an old salt teach you with a hands on method...a dying breed I'm afraid

[SeanPatrick]

Originally Posted by Mickeyrouse

I have a lot of respect for celestial navigators, but by [the time] the tables, almanac updates, plotting charts, etc, and a chronometer get bought, GPS is just cheapest, faster, and much more accurate- and thus

It's 2024. You don't need any of that anymore.

There are many programs and apps that will do all of the math and tedious work for you. All you have to do is measure the altitudes, input the data and tell the program roughly where you think you are. Then it spits out your fix.

And these days, even the cheapest digital watch will keep time well enough. Gary LaPook, a member of NavList, ran an experiment with three cheap digital watches (US$17 each) over the course of at least two years:

Originally Posted by Gary LaPook

So after 746 days, more than two years, the worst single error is 14 seconds making an error of 3.5 NM in longitude at the equator. Using the average of the three watches results in about a 0.25 NM error in longitude.

Of course GNSS (GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS, Galileo) is the best primary choice for navigation. And the best backup for a GPS is another GPS. But a celestial fix is a great way to cross-check what the GPS is telling you. It's a system that is entirely independent from GPS. And that's more important than ever with all of the GPS jamming and spoofing that's been going on.


Anyway, I know a guy who made a pretty good celestial navigation spreadsheet that you can download for free!

[Wilyum]

Of all the videos ive watched on CN, this one helped me the most.

[double u]

forget videos!
what you need is a simple book &
PRACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACT ICE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!P RACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACTI CE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!PRACTICE!
(& not just in your back yard with a dish of engine oil for horizon...)

[Andy Johnson]

Has anyone come across the TeacupNav software and web site recently. It was developed by Rodger Farley some years ago and is one of the best pieces of astro navigation plotting software I have come across. Here is a link to an article about it (Astro Nav from Home) No, 2 in the Useful Articles list.
His book is on amazon but it is the software I am after.
Cheers,
Andy Johnson

[Andy Johnson]

Can I offer my book "Astro Navigation from Home" ! It covers all types of sights using chosen position method and shows how to use an app to get your altitudes which allows as much practice as you can tolerate. You basically make up your own examples. Also show where you get all the almanacs and tables you will need as free pdf files. Web address is Astro Nav from Home .
Cheers,
Andy

[SeanPatrick]

PM sent.