On my bookshelves are more than 50 feet of books referencing celestial navigation. The collection includes everything from an 1854 crumbling version of Bowditch, to concise navigation tables used during World War II. Some of them I consult on a regular basis and others I just glance at occasionally, like Squire T.S. Lecky’s Wrinkles in Practical Navigation. The following is a list of some of the books that I have found to be very helpful over the long period that I have been a student of celestial navigation. They are not listed in any order of importance. If you have…

Pacific Seacraft's Don Kohlmann knew he had a problem. As the demographics of the sailing community changed, he was seeing people drop out of sailing and move into power boats. "These are folks that have been sailing for some time, but now want to have a little more comfort in inclement weather," Kohlmann explained. "And because they have more time for destination-type voyaging, they are also looking for a boat capable of motoring and sailing efficiently and economically." Kohlmann, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Pacific Seacraft, knew that a motor-sailer (usually the worst of both worlds) wasn't…

A warm wind just pushes your boat along at bare steerageway as water gurgles pleasantly in and out of the thru-hulls. You don’t mind the lackluster sailing performance because out here in the central Pacific, very far from human light, a preternatural vastness of ancient stars wheels slowly above you. Enjoying a sky show that landsmen almost never see, you loll in the cockpit, occasionally raising your head to check for other traffic on this peaceable, soulful night.A fiery rent appears in the fabric of the dome. Aha, you think, a solitary shooting star to underscore the transience of life…

When we arrived at Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati, we presented a letterhand-written on a piece of notebook paperto a customs official. The letter was signed by the French caretaker of an otherwise uninhabited U.S. atoll and was a far cry from the official zarpe, or departure clearance, that we should have carried with us from the U.S. Although we hadn't intended to visit Kiribati, it had become our best hope for obtaining entrance into a foreign port. If Kiribati turned us away, we had visions of becoming a modern-day Flying Dutchman, sailing forever but unable to land.…

From Ocean Navigator #108 September/October 2000 Stand around a boat show full of electronics exhibits and you'll soon observe that few of our era's amazing navigation tools have more pure "wow" factor than electronic photo maps. Seeing a vessel plotted on a harbor chart-scale aerial photograph alongside the equivalent real chart is startling and intriguing. Everybody wants to see their home harbor. "Hey, there's a bird's-eye view of my marina. Hey, there's what that ledge actually looks like. Wow." Electronic photo maps lend an air of realism to electronic navigation. Here are two Florida keys as displayed by PhotoNavigator on…

Readers of these pages will no doubt recognize the author of Myth, Fact, and Navigators' Secrets as the long-time writer of the quirky nautical history column "Looking Astern." Dill's passion for oddball maritime tales blossoms in this book. He details adventures and misadventures alike in his collection of short stories - sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic. He describes the origins of maritime firsts (submarines, aircraft carriers, flying boats) and notable historical figures such as the debaucherous Samuel Pepys, the honorable-to-the-end naval captains of the War of 1812, the strange story of the original Henry Morgan and innovations in nautical science. Dill's…

Question: I am a ham operator and am looking at ways of installing my rig on my boat. I have a ketch with a fairly short rig, so my wire lengths are all marginal. Plus with all that wire nearby, there is bound to be some interference. The recent article on single-sideband installations (Setting up single sideband, Issue 123, July/Aug. 2002), mentioned the possibility of using a 23-foot fiberglass whip. I wondered if you could tell me how they stack up against using rigging wire. I know the builder of my boat, an Amel 38, installed a whip on the…