Celestial Navigation: Learn How to Master One of the Oldest Mariner's Arts - Softcover

Cunliffe, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470666331 ISBN 13: 9780470666333

Publisher: Fernhurst Books, 2010

Synopsis

Celestial navigation is one of the oldest of the mariner’s arts – and one of the most awe-inspiring. It is also essential for every ocean sailor who wants to be able to fix his position should the GPS fail. Tom Cunliffe shows you how to master the art in easy stages. Within a few pages you’ll be taking your first sight. From there it is a short step to plotting your position, wherever you may be on the world’s oceans. Whether you need to pass an exam, want a back-up to GPS positioning or simply choose to delight in the wonder of the cosmos, this is the perfect guide. With photographs, charts and diagrams to help your learning, you will be able to master the sextant and navigate using the sun, moon, planets and stars.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Celestial navigation is one of the oldest of the mariner’s arts – and one of the most awe-inspiring. To guide a small boat across the trackless oceans using a simple measuring device – the sextant – and a knowledge of the Sun, Moon and stars is a skill that borders on the magical. It is also essential for every ocean sailor who wants to be able to fix his position should the GPS fail.

In these pages Tom Cunliffe shows how to master the art in easy stages. His talent is to educate without intimidating. Starting from a sound foundation of the basic concepts and definitions, he moves on to the hardware: the sextant and how to use it. Within a few pages you’ll be taking your first sight. From there it is a short step to plotting your position, wherever you may be on the world’s oceans.

NEW EDITION FEATURES:

• Revised text and new photographs
• Video tutorials accessed online
• Access to downloadable calculation sheets

Whether you need to pass an exam, want a back-up to GPS positioning or simply choose to delight in the wonder of the cosmos, this is the perfect guide.

Tom Cunliffe is Britain’s leading sailing journalist and writer. He learned his sextant skills during numerous ocean passages, many of them made in the days before GPS. Tom is a RYA(R) Yachtmaster[R] Instructor Examiner and has acted as consultant for US Sailing. He has lectured extensively around Britain and the USA and writes regularly for Yachting Monthly, Yachting World and SAIL magazine. He also wrote and presented the BBC TV series, The Boats That Built Britain.

Wiley Nautical recommends this title for the Celestial Navigation section of the RYA [R] Ocean Yachtmaster [R] course.

ISBN: 9780470666333

UK £11.99 / US $19.95 / CDN $23.95

www.wileynautical.com

Front cover image: TAMAYA TECHNICS INC.

About the Author

Tom Cunliffe is Britain’s leading sailing writer. He is a worldwide authority on sailing instruction and an expert on traditional sailing craft. His hints and tips could help all yachtsmen! He has crossed oceans in simple boats without engines or electronics and voyaged to both sides of the Atlantic from Brazil to Iceland and from the Caribbean to Russia. He has cruised the coast of America and Canada and logged thousands of miles exploring both sides of the English Channel. Tom’s nautical career has seen him serve as mate on a merchant ship, captain on gentleman’s yachts and skipper of racing craft. His private passion is classic sailing boats and he has owned a series of traditional gaff-rigged vessels that have taken him and his family on countless adventures from tropical rainforests to frozen fjords. Tom has been a Yachtmaster Examiner since 1978 and has a gift for sharing his knowledge with good humour and an endless supply of tales of the sea. He also writes for Yachting Monthly, Yachting World and SAIL magazines, and wrote and presented the BBC TV series, The Boats That Built Britain.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fernhurst Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0470666331
• ISBN 13: 9780470666333
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 80