News Archive
19 June 2006
23.10N 147.09 E (sun sight position)
Navigation - the old fashioned way.
I am somewhere in the north eastern Pacific, south east of Japan - precisely where, I cannot be certain. My hesitation is because I am now navigating by means of a sextant and the sun, moon, stars and planets - well, just the sun for the moment. My GPS is alive and well (as are the three hand-held back-ups on board), but for want of some neural stimulation and to attempt to satisfy the requirements for a Yachtmaster \'Ocean\' ticket, I thought I \'d better give \"Astro\" a go.
Back in 1992, I went to night school and learned the theory of celestial navigation, long since forgotten, but the theory was never tested with practical application. Once I cleared Cape Horn and armed with a few books, I re-taught myself the theory and then the use of the sextant. I have been at it (actually navigating) for three days now and I figure I am about 200 miles (at the time of writing) from the antipodal point after which I make my turn northeast towards the Bering Strait. My plan is to navigate a 1,000 mile pasasage and then check my derived position against the GPS. Aside from the elemental enjoyment of navigating by means of the sun, there is the more serious consideration of acquiring a skill which may one day be critical. I recall being on a yacht in the English Channel en route to France. The ship\'s GPS failed. Two of the crew were carrying personal hand-held GPS units. Both of these failed. As it happens we were close enough to the French coast to be able to identify landmarks against the chart and navigate to a safe harbour. But what if...no one on board knew which way up to hold a sextant.
The great pioneering sailing soloists - Slocum, Dumas, Chichester, Knox-Johston, Moitessier, Blyth among others, my role models, did not benefit from electronic navigation aids. There is no question that manual methods compromise precision by comparison but...but the upside is this - gone is the feeling of dependence, the cane upon which it becomes all too easy to rely, and with it that restraining sheath of insulation which keeps you one step further from reaching with your fingertips to touch the raw heart of nature and the mystic realm which is the secret of the heavens.
What began as an exercise has become an art and brought with it an appreciation of the glorious contrivance of the universe to which hitherto I had been blind.