Astronomy and Cruising

[dmksails]

Two hobbies that go hand in hand are Astronomy and Sailing! I've dabbled with astronomy since I was 10, but moved away from it over the past 20 years due to lack of dark skies - I live outside of San Francisco.

I'm now planning for my get away aboard my tashiba-31. I plan to be sailing the summer away along the Inside passage on the way to Alaska and expect to have some pretty dark skies at night. I was thinking it would be great fun to be able to setup a telescope on shore to appreciate the stars

Is there anyone else out there combing these two hobbies? What telescope do you use? I'm concern with exposure to salt air and size - it can't be too big so that it's easy to transport via dinghy, nor too small where I might as well use binoculars.

Suggestions?

[barnakiel]

Quality optics do not like rough going. Your optics may deteriorate as the boat rolls, jumps and shakes.

So ... I would get a good telescope but not top of the range - you may want to replace more often than when it is securely mounted in your attic.

Cheers, ad astra,
b.