ask wilbur



"Capt. JG" wrote in message
news:J8ednTRMl5onF5bVnZ2dnUVZ_gqdnZ2d@bayareasolut ions...
Can you navigate (lat and long) at night with a sextant and a compass, but
without a nautical almanac, sight reduction tables, the time of day, and
without knowing the names of the stars? The sextant has an error, but you
don't know what it is, just that it's off. You can keep your modern watch,
but you just replaced the battery and the time is wrong.

Does someone own a sextant? What model? I'm thinking about picking one up.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

Dutton wrote in message ...
On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:26:00 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

Can you navigate (lat and long) at night with a sextant and a compass, but
without a nautical almanac, sight reduction tables, the time of day, and
without knowing the names of the stars? The sextant has an error, but you
don't know what it is, just that it's off. You can keep your modern watch,
but you just replaced the battery and the time is wrong.

Are you talking about finding one location with one measurement or by
taking several measurements over a period of time? What degree of
error is acceptable? What a screwball question - do you even
understand what you are asking?

Get a cheap one, you probably will never master it as an instrument
and never understand the mathematics behind it.

http://www.jbs.org/node/163

Dutton


You're another sockpuppet asshole, given the link you posted.... nothing to
say, with a lot of time on your hands. You're quite pathetic.

Keep changing identities if it makes you feel more like a man.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:12:44 -0600, Dutton wrote:

Get a cheap one, you probably will never master it as an instrument
and never understand the mathematics behind it.

http://www.jbs.org/node/163

Dutton

Dutton relied on Bowditch.

Dutton wrote:
On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:26:00 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

Can you navigate (lat and long) at night with a sextant and a compass, but
without a nautical almanac, sight reduction tables, the time of day, and
without knowing the names of the stars? The sextant has an error, but you
don't know what it is, just that it's off. You can keep your modern watch,
but you just replaced the battery and the time is wrong.



Why do you need all that stuff? The south pacific islander types
followed the appropriate star in the appropriate constellation and got
along just fine!
Gordon

On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:08:02 -0700, Gordon wrote:


Why do you need all that stuff? The south pacific islander types
followed the appropriate star in the appropriate constellation and got
along just fine!
Gordon

Did they? Maybe we just don't know how many of them got lost. ;-)

On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:08:02 -0700, Gordon wrote:

Dutton wrote:
On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:26:00 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

Can you navigate (lat and long) at night with a sextant and a compass, but
without a nautical almanac, sight reduction tables, the time of day, and
without knowing the names of the stars? The sextant has an error, but you
don't know what it is, just that it's off. You can keep your modern watch,
but you just replaced the battery and the time is wrong.



Why do you need all that stuff? The south pacific islander types
followed the appropriate star in the appropriate constellation and got
along just fine!
Gordon


Well, possible. Of course those times it didn't quite work we didn't
hear about it...

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:08:02 -0700, Gordon wrote:

Dutton wrote:
On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:26:00 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

Can you navigate (lat and long) at night with a sextant and a compass, but
without a nautical almanac, sight reduction tables, the time of day, and
without knowing the names of the stars? The sextant has an error, but you
don't know what it is, just that it's off. You can keep your modern watch,
but you just replaced the battery and the time is wrong.

Why do you need all that stuff? The south pacific islander types
followed the appropriate star in the appropriate constellation and got
along just fine!
Gordon


Well, possible. Of course those times it didn't quite work we didn't
hear about it...

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

Thats how they discovered new islands! They were knowm as the Fugawis!
Like. "Where the Fugawi?"
Gordon