evantica
New member
S-NOT sextant, a russian well spoken of among the cruising commity. chep and good quallity!
Which is your sextant of choice for small boat navigation?
- Thread starter jollysailor17
- Start date
co256
Member
JayBee
Member
From the pics I would say that this is a re-badged Cassens and Plath - which is not the same as a C.Plath, probably the best sextants ever made. When Plath decided to stop making them, the machinery was destroyed.
jollysailor17
New member
I bought a sextant made by C. Plath in Hamburg. What a work of art it is!
Kukri
Well-known member
I have a C Plath Navistar Classic; it is excellent but my arm does start to shake after a while.
The modern Chinese ones with big full width mirrors and aluminium frames are very nice.
The modern Chinese ones with big full width mirrors and aluminium frames are very nice.
oldvarnish
Active member
Anqyone nervous of sight reduction should use the cards I have been using. They are plastic coated and re-usable and they take you through it step by step. If you get it wrong it's because you've done the sums wrong, not got the method wrong.
Trouble is, can t remember what thy're called and they're on the boat far away. But they were made in the UK. Google might help. I think that lovely bookshop on QAB in Plymouth has them.
Trouble is, can t remember what thy're called and they're on the boat far away. But they were made in the UK. Google might help. I think that lovely bookshop on QAB in Plymouth has them.
c2518
New member
Possibly of interest
Don't know if this might be of interest
http://www.cockpitcards.co.uk/page4.htm
Don't know if this might be of interest
http://www.cockpitcards.co.uk/page4.htm
ScallywagII
Member
Jester Challenge "in small boats, on a low budget"
I have an old Ebbco special. It takes up little space and weighs next to nothing. A few weeks ago I went down to the shore and my noon sight was just 1 mile out. I could pay 10 or 20 times as much but you can bet it would not be 10 or 20 times as accurate. I used it a few times on my crossing, enough to reassure myself that I could still do it. Now I regret not using it more, which had been my original intention. I think having the AIS always on meant that the GPS position was always on show, so there did not seem to be much point.
Just as the view from the top of a mountain you have cycled up is so much more spectacular than the view if you have driven there, a landfall made under celestial navigation is infinitely sweeter than the electronic counterpart. I recall in 1975 arriving at the Maldives just before sunset. Hundreds of atolls, all virtually identical from the sea. I selected the three brightest stars that would give a good fix, shot them as they became visible, reduced them in under 5 minutes and instead of a cocked hat the position lines intersected exactly. You don't get that feeling from reading off a screen.
Len
I have an old Ebbco special. It takes up little space and weighs next to nothing. A few weeks ago I went down to the shore and my noon sight was just 1 mile out. I could pay 10 or 20 times as much but you can bet it would not be 10 or 20 times as accurate. I used it a few times on my crossing, enough to reassure myself that I could still do it. Now I regret not using it more, which had been my original intention. I think having the AIS always on meant that the GPS position was always on show, so there did not seem to be much point.
Just as the view from the top of a mountain you have cycled up is so much more spectacular than the view if you have driven there, a landfall made under celestial navigation is infinitely sweeter than the electronic counterpart. I recall in 1975 arriving at the Maldives just before sunset. Hundreds of atolls, all virtually identical from the sea. I selected the three brightest stars that would give a good fix, shot them as they became visible, reduced them in under 5 minutes and instead of a cocked hat the position lines intersected exactly. You don't get that feeling from reading off a screen.
Len
jollysailor17
New member
I saw a Davis Mk15 at a jumble, new and unused for £40 which is a lot lighter than the C. Plath, so will keep this as a spare and useful if I find the Plath too heavy.