Emergency Navigation, 2nd Edition Improvised and No-Instrument Methods for the Prudent Mariner

by Burch, David

• ISBN13: 9780071481847
• ISBN10: 0071481842
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-07-11
• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press

Summary

Find your way on the water, even when your equipment is down As complex electronics have come to dominate boat navigation,Emergency Navigation provides an essential backup for every ocean mariner. David Burch shows you how to find your position and plot a course to safety--even if your navigation equipment is damaged or lost--using ancient and modern skills or rudimentary materials like a stick, a piece of string or a pair of sunglasses. New edition includes new navigation methods, enhanced graphics and updated resource lists.

Author Biography

David Burch is a renowned expert on navigation with severalsuccessful titles and a high profile in the boating community. The founderand director of the Starpath School of Navigation, Burch holds a Ph.D. inphysics and has more than 60,000 miles of ocean sailing experience.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. viii
Foreword to the First Edition	p. xii
Preface to the Second Edition	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
What Is Emergency Navigation?	p. 1
The Scope of This Book	p. 2
Preparation for Navigational Emergencies	p. 3
Time and Place at Sea	p. 9
Latitude Regions and Seasons Defined	p. 10
Time in Navigation	p. 12
Finding Position versus Keeping Track of Position	p. 13
Directions at Sea	p. 15
Choosing a Route	p. 16
Compass Checks	p. 17
Steering without a Compass	p. 21
Steering by Wind and Swells	p. 27
Reading the Wind	p. 29
Swells, Waves, and Ripples	p. 34
Wind Shifts	p. 37
Steering by the Stars	p. 42
Know the Whole Sky	p. 42
How the Stars Move	p. 43
Steering by the North Star	p. 47
The Summer Triangle	p. 53
The Great Square of Pegasus	p. 54
Finding North without the North Star	p. 54
Steering by Orion	p. 56
Steering by Gemini and Procyon	p. 57
Steering by Scorpio	p. 58
Steering by the Southern Cross and the South Pole	p. 59
Steering by Overhead Stars	p. 62
Steering by Zenith Stars	p. 64
Star Paths	p. 70
Timing Low Stars	p. 72
Steering by the Sun	p. 75
Sunrise and Sunset	p. 75
Morning Sun and Afternoon Sun	p. 78
Local Apparent Noon	p. 82
Solar Time Method	p. 86
The Shadow-Tip Method	p. 89
The Tropics Rule for the Sun	p. 93
Sun Crossing Due East or West	p. 93
Sun Compasses	p. 94
When the Sun Is Obscured	p. 98
Steering by Other Things in the Sky	p. 99
The Moon	p. 99
The Planets	p. 106
Clouds, Birds, and Planes	p. 108
Satellites	p. 114
Steering in Fog or Under Cloudy Skies	p. 115
How to Make a Magnetic Compass	p. 116
Direction Finding with a Portable Radio	p. 117
Streaming a Line along the Centerline	p. 119
Finding the Sun as a Viking Would	p. 121
Currents	p. 124
Ocean Currents	p. 125
Tidal Currents	p. 128
Wind-Driven Currents	p. 129
Coastal Currents	p. 130
Dead Reckoning	p. 132
Emergency DR	p. 132
Finding Boat Speed	p. 134
DR Errors from Speed and Direction	p. 136
DR Errors from Current and Leeway	p. 142
Progress to Weather	p. 146
Latitude at Sea	p. 148
Makeshift Altitude Measurements and Calibrations	p. 148
Makeshift Altitude Corrections	p. 155
Latitude from Polaris	p. 156
Latitude from Zenith Stars	p. 159
Latitude from Horizon-Grazing Stars	p. 162
Latitude from Double Transits of Circumpolar Stars	p. 169
Latitude from the Sun at LAN	p. 170
Latitude from the Length of Day	p. 178
Keeping Track of Latitude	p. 183
Longitude at Sea	p. 186
Longitude from Sunrise or Sunset	p. 187
Longitude from LAN (the Equation of Time)	p. 189
Finding UTC from a Known Position	p. 197
Keeping Track of Longitude	p. 197
Coastal Piloting without Instruments	p. 201
Signs of Land at Sea	p. 202
Visible Range of Lights and Land	p. 207
Distance Off	p. 211
Running Fix from Radio Bearings	p. 216
Course Made Good in Current	p. 217
What to Do with What You've Got	p. 219
Routine Navigation with Everything	p. 219
Position by Radio Contact	p. 226
Everything but UTC	p. 228
Everything but a Sextant	p. 234
Everything but Sight Reduction Tables	p. 240
Everything but a Compass	p. 245
Everything but an Almanac	p. 246
Nothing but UTC	p. 249
Annotated Bibliography	p. 250
Basic Marine Navigation	p. 250
Almanac Data	p. 251
Stars and Star Identification	p. 252
Finding Longitude without Time	p. 252
No-Instrument Navigation	p. 253
Emergency Seamanship	p. 256
Periodicals of Interest to Emergency Navigation	p. 256
Meteorology and Oceanography	p. 257
Published Aids to Navigation	p. 258
Index	p. 260
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.