Recent content by stephenh

Graham - I have PM'ed you stephenh

Hs (height sextant) is the sextant altitude; with Dip and error this gives Ha ( height apparent) - apparent altitude ; with altitude corrections this gives Ho ( height observed) or True altitude which compared with Hc (height calculated) or Tabulated altitude (Tab. alt.) and from...

Check out amazon. uk and Abebooks - available at both and both will ship to Galway Goodluck

Here's a googly - Crewed on a '30s 45' schooner from Harwich to Falmouth, anchored in Studland Bay - very clear sandy bottom - there was hardly any Eel grass !!! Also went fron Vlissingen to Brest in a mobo - 3 different buoyage systems - Dutch, Belgian and French. The French (IIRC) had a...

The US Navy gave up astro in 1997 (?) and now , 20 years later are bringing it back..... see : http://www.naval-technology.com/features/featurecelestial-navigation-ancient-craft-reinstated-as-cyber-warfare-looms-large-4809513/ The RN have never stopped teaching it.

"What about my question for installing a fuse box in the engine area? Is that OK to do?" "Nothing wrong with that. " However - from the web :- Temperature Derating of Fuses Ambient temperature of the application must be considered when choosing the current rating of the fuse. When a fuse is...

It is useful to have limits of time and place. For deliveries I have often had written - " the months of July and August " for example and " the Mediterranean Sea" or "UK coastal including the continental coast from Brest to the Elbe" Once had a letter from a rather facetious owner saying " all...

From 50 years ago - if my memory serves me correctly :- Take ordinary glaziers linseed oil putty and bash and kneed it until it is well mixed and smooth - the addition of more (boiled) linseed oil helps if it is old. Working in tabloid newspaper takes out the surplus l. oil if it is needed...

I would go for the plastic. "sizes are around 500X800" - that's quite large. Delivered a 38' AWB in early spring down to the Med. F7 in the Biscay - nothing serious - but the whole boat flexed to the point that the glass mirror of that size jumped out of its frame and shattered everywhere...

N nomad It is not only the size and shape that is important but also the weight. I made a couple of Aries vanes out of a piece of any-old-ply that I found in a skip - they were not heavy enough, didn't work and I had to go and spend beer tokens on the proper stuff - ouch. Was it 6mm far eastern...

Keep trying! It is certainly worth it... It took me four attempts over a good few years, finally made it in 2005..... Try, try and try again, comes to mind. Good luck

Robin - a small but valid point, perhaps :- I lost the mainsail clew on an in-mast furling Oceanis once. Nothing wrong with the sail cloth - apart from being 20 years in the Med and well blousy, likewise the anti UV patch and the stitching were in good order for their age. However the three...

Another reason for having an SSR is this: If you leave say, Alderney, heading home for the Needles, then the first six miles or so are CI waters;so far, so good. However, before you hit the English side of the Channel, there is a sneaky 3 or 4 mile wide strip that is under French territorial...

"there's a woman navigating one of the supers. Is nothing sacred anymore ? " Shhhhhh - don't let Mary Blewitt / Pera hear you say that ! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1366813/Mary-Pera.html But no Wikipedia entry........maybe that's for the boys only?

I have my own book of acquired 'useful info.' and digging deeply into it I found : Dutchmans Log - Distance in feet x 0.6 divided by time in seconds = knots Any help ?