Here is a series of five reduction exercises based on sextant observations, using spherical trigonometry. To understand how to complete these exercises, you will need to have read the text on reducing sextant observations or, more generally, the series of texts on celestial navigation. Exercise 1 Your estimated position is...
This text is the sixth in a series on celestial navigation. It focuses on the method for converting sextant readings into a position line, i.e. a reduction of sextant observations. The text explaining how to find the GP of a celestial body should be read beforehand. The reduction is the...
In developing a theory of celestial navigation, we have seen that a ship’s position is determined using circles of position centred on the GP of a celestial body. This fifth article in the series on celestial navigation shows how to find the GP of any celestial body. This is an...
This is the second in a series of articles on celestial navigation. It sets out the theory needed to understand how the technique works. The focus is on understanding, rather than calculation: we’re looking at the big picture. No calculations! The idea is to understand the simplifications required to arrive...
This is the first in a series of articles on celestial navigation. It covers the tools and documents required for celestial navigation, namely: You don’t need anything else. A basic scientific calculator with trigonometric functions (sin, cos, tan, etc.) costs around $20. A ruler costs next to nothing, but it...
Note: the author benefited from a licence from the Canadian Hydrographic Service and from SEAiq to write this text. This text is the last of five on electronic navigation applications. It covers the use of the SEAiq – Pilot software. This software enables you to work with S-100 charts, the...
This is the third of five articles on the use of electronic navigation applications. It focuses on the C-MAP application. The other texts cover the use of OpenCPN, Savy Navy, Navionics and SEAiq. It focuses mainly on installations on tablets or cellular devices that are not connected to a sailboat’s...
This text is intended as an introduction to electronic navigational charts (ENCs). It covers how they are designed. This knowledge helps understanding how to use them and their limitations. It is an essential reading before using our introduction to electronic navigation applications. You can also read a similar text on...
This text is the first in a series of five on electronic navigation applications. It shows you how to perform the most important navigation tasks, i.e. how to: This first text covers the Navionics (Boating) application. The other texts cover OpenCPN, Savyy Navy, C-MAP and SEAiq respectively. Prior to reading...
This series of texts describes how to carry out a familiarisation inspection of a sailboat. The first text described how to think about inspecting three of the nine fundamental components of a sailboat: the hull, the engine and the rigging. The second text, this one, illustrates how I familiarised myself...
