Dinger Boat Plan

Celestial Navigation Fun!

Like a lot of wooden boat nuts, I was probably born in the wrong century. I like the Blue Moons gaff rig, I use kerosene lamps, and I much prefer paper charts to electronic ones (my paper charts never go blank, as Roger Fitzgeralds did at a critical moment during the 2010 Jester Challenge. How awkward!)

I also like celestial navigation.


Why, in this GPS age, would I enjoy anything so unlikely? Why would I want to laboriously calculate my position on planet Earth by looking at real stars, when the artificial stars of the GPS system are happy to do all the sights and calculations for me?

Its not because I think the GPS system is unreliable, or I fear the bad guys will shoot the satellites out of the sky. In fact, I figure the odds are pretty darn slim that Im going to need my GPS just as WW III starts.

And its not because my simple Garmin 72 GPS needs a backup. Frankly, the best backup for a GPS is... another GPS.

No, the reason I like celestial navigation is the best one of all: FUN.

Now I admit, this is the same sort of fun that people get from doing the Sunday Times crossword puzzle, or writing a computer program, or building a wooden boat, for that matter. Its hard to explain this type of fun to people who like doing everything the easy way, but if youre reading this blog, you probably share this odd pleasure.

(Secret bonus pleasure: its also fun to lord it over the 99% of sailors who dont know celestial navigation, and never will.)

Its always been that way. The common sailor, no matter how experienced, has always held in awe the Captain and his ability to find his way across the trackless oceans by looking at the stars.


Remember Treasure Island, when Long John Silvers band of thieves were impatient to get rid of Captain Smollett and take over the ship? What did the ruthless but practical Long John remind them?

What I say is, when are we going to do it?  growled the coxswain impatiently.

When! by the powers! cried Silver. Ill tell you when. The last moment I can manage; and thats when. If was sure of you all, sons of double Dutchmen, Id have Capn Smollett navigate us half-way back again before we struck.

Why, were all seamen aboard here, I should think, said the lad Dick.

Were all focsle hands, you mean, snapped Silver We can steer a course, but whos to set one?”

Ah, the inner secret of sailing! The one that garnered respect, even from pirates. Yup. Thats what I call fun.

I brought my sextant along on the Blue Moon, but I havent had much chance to use it, what with being fairly close to shore, or in the ICW, or tucked into an anchorage at dusk and dawn. Whenever I had a chance to shoot the Sun or a nice star, there always seemed to be a shore under it, instead of the horizon. And everyone knows you need a clear view of the horizon to get a shot, right?

Well, a couple days ago, I just happened to read about the Short Dip tables. Ill explain these in more detail later, but the short version is that these special tables let you take sights even when you dont have a clear view of the horizon. At least in certain circumstances.

This got me fired up about using my sextant, but of course, Im totally out of practice. And celestial navigation isnt something you can do without practice. At least I cant.

So Ive decided to use this break from the Blue Moon to brush up my calculations, and test out those Short Dip tables. And Im going to blog about it, so maybe I wont have to drag out those impenetrable and stupefyingly dull books the next time I need to refresh my memory.


If youve always wanted to learn how to steer by the stars, this might be a good way to get your feet wet. Im going to start off with the simplest sight possible -- a noon sun sight -- and show how to calculate your position with the minimum amount of math and mumbo-jumbo possible. If I do my job right, you should say to yourself, "hey, this celestial navigation stuff isnt so hard, after all!"

If enough readers get into it, maybe Ill even add a new feature to my Blue Moon blog -- a Where Am I? feature. Ill take sights and print them in my blog, and you can use them to figure out where I am.

Now, come on... what could be more fun than that???

Well, if you are interested, shoot me an email at john@unlikelyboatbuilder.com, just so I know Im not completely crazy. If theres enough interest, Ill get into taking other, more complicated, types of shots.

No sextant necessary. The only tools youll need to get started are a pencil, some graph paper, and maybe a simple calculator.

>>> Next Episode: Hello World!

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Follow me on Twitter! My son Chris has been bugging me for a few weeks to use Twitter to make short, more frequent posts from my iPhone, for when I dont have the time for longer blog posts. I dont know how it will work out, but Im willing to give it a try! My Twitter ID is UnlikelyVoyager (UnlikelyBoatBuilder is too long, apparently), and the URL is http://twitter.com/UnlikelyVoyager. Twitter me back, or leave a comment below, if you think this is worth while. Thanks, Chris!

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