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

NAVIGATING on PAPER people, it's a GREAT PLEASURE!!!
An introduction to NAVIGATION Balkan Style...
Keep Shunting, Balkan Shipyards

 

It's true. There may come a time when your GPS is unavailable.

 

That time will come, since nothing lasts forever...
The true problem is that there are sailors that can't navigate.
The second problem is that many go to sea without paper charts...

Keep Shunting, Balkan Shipyards

 

It's not a good idea to go to sea without the tools to navigate by hand. Charts, tables, clock and a sextant or the like, and KNOWLEDGE, seem pretty essential. On the other hand, if you go to sea in a powerboat and you lose power, what are you going to do, even if you do know where you are and which direction to go?

When self-rescue is not an option, calling or signaling for help is more important.

 

Knowing this information, the obliquity of Earth, and its seasonal relationship to the Sun would make working out your position a lot easier, even if you didn't know anything but some basic high school geometry.

With an accurate clock, you're sure to know where you are any time the Sun is at its zenith. It takes a little more work to figure it out at Sunset and Sunrise. However, at those times, you don't need a sextant, just a compass.

 

Very interesting Will, I will google it and figure it out soon enough... Thanks!

Power boats frighten me, I always imagine something going wrong and me getting on the radio sending out Pan Pan messages... If I need to call for help at sea, I failed as a captain, it may happen, but I will do all I can to solve my problem alone...

That's why I sail, no engine can beat the wind in reliability and availability. I do my best to understand my surroundings and find my position by my self. Electronic magic is good only when it works... Sadly these devices are prone to failure and I can't fix them, so I don't like them. The same way I like my 40 year old car, cos I can fix it, I like simple sailboats, cos I can fix them. Modern yachts bursting with electronics just aren't my cup of tea, I suppose.

Keep Shunting....
Balkan Shipyards

 

I love the sail on his catamaran model.

 

Cambered Junks Go Windward - Why Not?



He built it, looks fun and practical.

 

Happy You like the Balkan Style....

Catamarans are more expensive, harder to build, weaker or heavily loaded, since mast is located between the hulls on the bridgedeck. This mast is lifting a big heavy hull to the one side, yet the fulcrum is the other hull to the other side, since mast is in between the two hulls, compression loads on bridgedeck are double the weight of windward hull... Some serious loads there!

Potentially faster, potentially more comfortable in a rough sea, easier to transport...

These are some of the advantages of Pacific Proas over Catamarans, We build Druas a type of Proa from Fiji, again a shunter only that Druas used symmetrical Vakas and long Amas...

Keep Shunting, Balkan Shipyards

 

Learning the mythology of constellations enrich our lives.
"
My cell phone is a great conduit to learning and I download its information to my "necktop" computer.

 

Great images!! thanks.
My NeckTop is overloaded at the moment, working long days roofing away making money to build a boat...
Yet I find these images very educating, so I will get brother Google to find me as many as possible.

Keep Shunting,
Balkan Shipyards

 

Before Google was around on clear evenings with our children we would look to the heavens and choose a constellation. Then read aloud from a book the story of the heroes, heroines or creatures. If it held our interest we would track them as they traveled across the sky through the years. Some of theirs stores were intertwined with the passing planets, our own moon, or with other near by constellation. It was the best of times and it felt very ancient like a foregone memory.
I am speaking of the Greek and other cultural Mythology related to Astronomy or astronomical events, early navigation tools used by explorers in conjunction with tools like an Astrolabe.
I am NOT talking about astrology or fortune teller.

Uri Tuchman: Here how a astrolabe works video.

Uri Tuchman: In this video he make an astrolabe out of steel and brass with engravers.

 

I truly enjoyed the vids, amazing instrument and guy... The Arabs had some glorious maritime days.
Except for being great navigators they paved the road to windward sailing with their Lateen rig. While square riggers where searching for trade winds to run down on, Arab Dhows where sailing circles in the Indian ocean trading between China and Africa, their ships could sail circles around a square rigger, so soon enough became the favoured choice for pirate ships...

Thanks for sharing your memories, I think it's a great idea for true quality time with kids. I will look into what you have taught me with great interest, I feel we are getting more and more stupid as 'AI' takes over on it's way to turn us into robots... People are getting more and more dependent on electronic gadgets, that don't only navigate their way, but their lives...

So yea, time to learn the stars... My plan was, get a Davis mk3 and navigate by the sun, yet knowing star groups where they rise and set is truly the way to go.

Keep Shunting,
Balkan Shipyards

 

The Celestial Globe is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, taken on a recent visit to Itally. The astrolape and brass globe are from the Smithsonian, if my memory is correct.

 

rael dobkins,
I like your youtube.

AI is only a mind tool. I don't believe you will every become a robot. You are a tool maker, they run the risk of becoming a cyborg. HaHa
To see the Hagia Sophia is on my bucket list.
The best of luck with all your endeavors
John