Customer Reviews

Celestial Navigation

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Celestial navigation, practiced by seamen for thousands of years, seems to be a daunting topic encompassing spherical trigonometry and lots of tables to look up values.

Tom Cunliffe managed to get everything you need to know to use celestial navigation to get across an ocean or to do some sun or star shots for fun into a small volume. This is without question the best book to learn the basics how to use a sextant, calculate your position from the sun, multiple stars, even the moon.

You will need a Nautical Almanach and Site Reduction Tables Pub. 249 but no other books to get started. Also get some Universal Plotting Sheets and you are ready.

This is not a first attempt book. This is a short, consice review course for someone who has a working understanding of the art and maybe some prior experience and just needs a reminder or a refresher ....a better approach to the examples, more grahics are needed. This is my 2nd purchase for a beginners book. I'll keep looking.

I found Tom Cunliffe's style to be precise and very accurate. His clear and concise portrayal of only the stuff you need and all of the stuff you need for celestial navigation was helpful and easy to follow.
Just what you need nothing more, nothing less.

Most books on this subject are confusing to say the least. Compensating for location/time etc is enough to make your head spin even when you understand the general idea. I've read many of the books on this topic and taken many courses. This Cunliffe book is the BEST in my humble opinion. I used this as a review for my Yacht Master Ocean and headed out for a nine day cruise from Gibraltar to Malta, and had no difficulties with the practical portion of the Yacht Master Ocean. Returning to the UK, the written course seemed like a joke--it was so easy. I recommend anyone taking these exams to do it in that order, as you might doubt yourself doing one problem in an exam, but not have doing 3-5 sights per day for a nine days. back to the book. I think Tom Cunliffe is just great. he is the real deal. He has done it all and he write about it better than anyone. I would not hesitate to buy any of his books. At present I'm giving away sailing books. This is one I'll hold onto, just to keep it fresh in my mind, and for a quick review before any voyage.

This book is very well authored and the diagrams, graphics, and descriptions are an excellent introduction to CelNav mathematics. For someone staring in CelNav, I definitely recommend this book.