"Don White" wrote in message
...

when anchoring in shallow water, I use my boat hook to
check
the bottom.

SBV


Either you carry a very long boat hook... or your
definition of shallow is
different from most sailors.


Shallow = 4-6 feet. I draw 3'4''.

12' long boat hook, I have a mark on it at 4'.

SBV

otnmbrd wrote:
....
BG Been a while since we had a discussion...... At any rate...... many
coastal vessels and fishing vessels would not need to use
celestial....

True, but these same vessels today would be considered reckless if they
went out without GPS today.

here, you would need a historian to give you an accurate
reading as to the how and who did what (I'm not him/her)

I only have anecdotal stuff to go by, but it is something I've always
been curious about. Over the years, some technology was adopted quite
quickly by the masses; other things took time. The Lunar Method was
only used on large ships because it actually took several people to even
have a chance of getting it right. Then it took long computations.
I've read in several places comments that it was never done except on
warships.

BG Going to be on the Cape from 26th to 1st....if you get to Hyannis,
look me up (try the Black Cat)

Interesting thought ... As it turns out I'm off the Florida those days.
I talked my father into DSL and HDTV, now I have to go down and help
him set it up. No good deed goes unpunished!

On 2007-09-18 05:39:05 -0400, said:

In closing let me say that I learned celestial navigation from a Lt.
Colonel, the Lead Navigator in a SAC B-52 squadron and used to carry a
sextant, H.O. tables and expensive watch and all that, but that was
fifty years ago. Things have changed.

Might not have changed too much. Was talking to an Air Force (or Army)
Reserves navigator a couple of weeks ago: The big boys (cargo, in this
case) still take sights, particularly the ones required to know where
they even if *everything* hits the fan(s).

--
Jere Lull
Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's new pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI pages: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

Thanks for all the responses.

I've just received the book from amazon today
"Celestial Navigation When Your GPS Fails"
by Mark Breach.

Even though amazon says 144 pages, it has
a lot of charts so the real reading is only about
70 pages or less.

Now I'm thinking about getting a sextant like
the one at Landfall Navigation ($127)
http://www.landfallnav.com/-nd026.html

But then I think another back-up GPS receiver
won't cost that much more :-)

wrote:

Now I'm thinking about getting a sextant like
the one at Landfall Navigation ($127)
http://www.landfallnav.com/-nd026.html


Still have Davis Mark15 training sextant complete with artificial
horizon and software, if you are interested ($85 complete).

Lew