English BLoG

  Learn how to navigate with a sextant using today's advanced technology with Captain J. C. Waters aboard the Schooner   SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE. October 26, 2010   Schooner SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE sailing on the Elizabeth River. The very technology that seemed to question  the viability of the practical use of the Sextant is now the tool that makes the Sextant once again an important navigation tool for the small boat cruiser as well as the professional navigator.   Traditional companion tools for the Sextant were the chronometer, almanac, sight reduction tables, worksheets, and plotting board.  All of these tools were required and were tedious and time consuming to work with and maintain.  Now enter the i-phone app “Star Pilot”, hand held computer with dedicated sight reduction program and the inexpensive digital watch.   Now the procedure to get a fix becomes:  Take the shot with the sextant, observe the time with the digital...

Schooner SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE Participants sight the sun using a sextant Most of us are enthralled with the sea and are drawn to stories and movies that have a sea theme. We can all relate to the human experience of these stories and movies accept when we consider how they found their way across the featureless expanse of ocean. That to many of us is a mystery. Peter Youngblood demonstrates the use of a sextant. Recently, area sailors and crewmembers had a workup on celestial navigation in preparation for our cruise aboard Schooner SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE to Bermuda. The workup session was held on board at her berth, which is docked at Tidewater Yacht Marina in Portsmouth, VA. Sun sights were taken throughout the day, with emphases on sextant technique used to bring an object to the horizon. Between shooting sessions the group discussed the geometry behind finding ones position with a sextant. Additionally each person used his or her sight data for sight reduction using a celestia...