Next message: Robert Gainer: "Re: Voyaging the traditional way"
Dave W wrote:
"If it were possible to accomplish comparable precision without a sextant as
with, why would we even need or want a sextant.
So the short answer to this version of your question must be no."
Clearly, people buy sextants for many different reasons. Historically,
sextants were much cheaper than excellent clocks and watches. Today, it's the other
way around, and radically so. Regardless, it is an amusing "game" question.
Are there circumstances under which you can navigate without a sextant?
A related game: are there circumstances under which you can navigate
celestially without any timepiece at all? (yes, rarely and not very well: see the
"Lunars Game" I mentioned in another post)
Another related game: are there circumstances under which you can navigate
celestially without a sextant, without a timepiece, AND without an almanac (of
any type)? I think the almanac is the "technological artifact" that is most
difficult to do without...
Frank R
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
