While many books on celestial navigation insist this age-old art is
needed only when electronics fail, Berson uses a unique approach that
allows boaters to combine both the modern and the traditional. No other
books do that.
Celestial navigation, in all its forms, is nearly as old as mankind.
Anyone who can master its intricacies stands at the end of a long line
of master navigators that is centuries old--an expert among many who
would be lost with electronics. David Berson, a columnist for Ocean
Navigator magazine and an instructor at both the Ocean Navigator School
of Seamanship and onboard the training schooner Ocean Star, offers
here an approach that is refreshing, unique, and sure to attract a new
generation of readers looking to demystify this essential art for
sailors.
Through his hands-on coursework Berson has developed a practical and
learnable method of teaching that has appealed to a new generation of
students. He will share his proven method here for the first time. In
Celestial Navigation, as he does in his popular column and classes,
Berson simplifies the math that so often frightens and deters potential
students. Chapters include:
Berson takes the same approach with his writing that he does with his
classes and columns, informal true-life anecdotes that entertain as well
as educate. To Berson, celestial navigation is personal and valuable.
Anyone reading this book will catch his contagious enthusiasm.
"And when learning celestial navigation, you do not have to be a
mathematician or an astronomer, and yet you will feel confident that you
will reach your destination when you are on that open ocean voyage. Once
started there are many refinements that may be added, if you wish, but
with the basics David has presented in this volume, you will enjoy the
satisfaction it gives when you launch your vessel from the dock and go
to sea with confidence (and it also will supply a great subject for
small talk at cocktail parties)."--Captain Eben Whitcomb
