The FUTURE of NAVIGATION is in the PAST! Go Figure...

The polynesians navigated all over the Pacific just using the sun, moon, stars, currents, wave directions and the presence of shore birds. They didn't have charts or astrolobes.

 

Fair winds and good luck with your dream list John...

Keep Shunting,
Balkan Shipyards

 

These images and text help clear up some facts about ancient navigation...
It's truly amazing how many different systems where developed that all worked, the Kamal was again an Arab wonder that took them over the Indian ocean and later adopted by the Chinese... The Polynesians memorized the stars, currents and sea formation.

Thanks for the images Will, I honestly believe a day will come and these systems once again will prevail....
Keep Shunting, Balkan Shipyards

 

Early navigation techniques are fascinating, from sunstones to the amazing Marshall island stick charts, which mapped the direction of wave patterns, and were memorised and left safely at home, not taken on voyages. The navigator would apparently lie down in the bottom of the boat, to better *feel* the direction of the waves and swells, or sit naked in the boat, as the rolling of his test icles on the bottom gave greater sensitivity - I'm not kidding!

 

I did a navy course in coastal navigation a long time ago, and understand the principles of navigation by paper chart, plotting courses, taking fixes etc, I've always found the practicalities of the complex, fiddly work on board a moving boat extremely difficult. Taking bearings quickly enough, sighting on a moving vessel, allowing for magnetic variation, and not getting a massive cocked hat; Doing head down work on a chart table plotting a course, allowing for variations in wind and tide over the leg of the voyage, poreing over the tide tables, recalculating... It brings on the seasickness very quickly.

 

Perhaps I just need to do more of it, and doing 'traditional' navigation around fiddly shore lines requires the work to be particularly speedy, but I've got to say, for my cautious small boat coastal work, gps on a chart plotter app on a phone (in a waterproof case, tied to the boat, doubled up with the crew's phone, plus a powerbank) does make it so much easier, and thus safer.

 

Dead reckoning works if you have the time and provisions. I once heard a guy who circumnavigation round the world a couple times say that there are some big sign post if you know how to look for them like the Sahara desert. It has a lot of dust that will cover the deck your boat.
I just steer the boat... don't really navigate. 'sides, if you do get lost, you just pull in somewheres and ask directions" - Capt Ron.

 

When I was 14 my family sailed from FL to ME. My father took a job as a watch officer on Hurricane Island Outward Bound for the Summer. I took a course and was the only student on board who knew how to navigate.

We were rowing in the fog, looking for a can that marked a pass between two islands. It was about a four mile row. I used the time it took the bow bubbles to reach the stern, to estimate our speed and watched the compass and the clock.

When I felt like we should have found the can, I suggested to the watch officer, on board, that we might be in the right place, but the fog was too thick to see the can. He said we should row another half mile. I told him I didn't think so, but if he thought it so, that's what we would do. I let everyone row a little longer and finally called a stop. We couldn't see a thing. Not buoy nor boat nor shore. Looking at the chart, I suggested we had rowed into the middle of a mooring field, but there were no visible markers. The watch officer thought we just hadn't gone far enough.

After asking him what he could think of to be sure, before we committed to another hour of rowing, I pointed out the depth on the chart for the mooring field was considerably less than the channel we were rowing up. Out came the sounding line. Shallow. He was still unconvinced.

I learned two new navigation techniques that day. One, a sounding is a valuable piece of navigational information. Two, as per the suggestion of my watch officer, the shore echoes in the fog. A blast with an air horn demonstrated the presence of the shoreline in the mooring field, but not in the other directions.

As we rowed the boat around to reverse direction, a moored sailboat came into view. We found the can, buried by the current rushing through the pass, about a half mile back.

Next, was a one and a half mile row to a second can off-shore. We nearly ran into it. DR got us all over Penobscot Bay in the fog. Success at this type of navigation is a real personal moral boost. It just feels right.

 

Great story Will, I too understand using a smart phone to get around, yet one must be able to navigate without electronics too. It builds confidence, not knowing exactly where you are all the time also builds confidence, you learn to believe in yourself, your DR and your calculations.

I enjoy navigating, getting it bang on is a pleasure! It was 2011 we had entered the Black sea, we went North up the Bulgarian coast looking for a cheap boatyard to haul out. No luck so we ended sailing back south, we left Varna after night fall, 12 hours later still sailing south, land to the west, Jenia began with the "switch on the GPS and tell us where we are..." I showed her on the chart where we were, she went on and on... We argued for a while, she won, I turned on the GPS. I couldn't believe my eyes! The lat/Lon figures were exactly on my estimated position, there wasn't even a millimeter between the two. We sold that 22 foot cruiser with GPS inside, never used one since. It's been a decade of coastal navigation for me, mainly testing Proa designs...

Below is a Black Sea Micro Cruising PROA Video from Balkan Shipyards, a 4 day cruise along a very rocky coast, no instruments, not even a log, I measure speed all the way and use the 'Balkan Speed Rule' to find how many 'Balkan Knots' we are sailing, down loaded and laminated charts are used on a wet deck, permanent markers are pencils and alcohol is the eraser. I explain my navigation, 'Point to Point' or fix to fix, that's all it is the rest is all estimated fun....

And the boat... What a boat! Proa "Make O'Break" best micro cruiser in the world!!!
Keep Shunting guys
Balkan Shipyards