Publisher: Wiley Nautical, £14.99
Publication Date: 2008
Subtitled 'The Handbook of Traditional & Emergency Navigation' this paperback volume assumes the modern yachtsman to be helpless in the event of failure of his GPS and reduced to constructing makeshift navigational devices from sticks and string in order to find his way home. Whilst the demise of traditional navigation is recognised this somewhat overstates the case. A competent skipper in a well found yacht should be able to continue navigating in these circumstances without needing to make a sun dial or employ a bent coathanger to find his latitude.
Having said that, the book does provide a wealth of interesting boy scoutish navigational tricks based on little more than homemade devices and a sharp eye, and, perhaps should be enjoyed on this basis. Great use is made of the sky (did you know that a line through the horns of the crescent moon, projected to the horizon, gives you due south?). Basic astronomical navigation as well as techniques of plane sailing that the older among us learned in our day, traverse tables, doubling the angle on the bow, and so on are resurrected. Much of it, though not all, is directed towards the longer distance sailor far from land.
The book is a quality production, liberally illustrated in full colour. You probably won't need it if the GPS goes on the blink halfway back from Cherbourg, but if you were to find yourself in a lifeboat in mid ocean, without recourse to the GMDSS, you might well be pleased to have it with you. - BMF
