You get inside the head of your audience / students and show a deep understanding of how to glue what they already understand from the physical world , and apply it to celestial navigation , thats a rear gift that has been honed for many years of tried and true teaching.. We are privileged to have passionate folks like yourself...
U stil trust nasa even after the moon landings were easily debunked even bye a 12 Ty grader. Why keep believing there lies wake up man is from the hole 🕳 sun sits In the black hole horizon out of darkness comes light but men comprehend it not! What ur teaching is a religion pseudoscience! God created this realm we live n the physical the non physical is what we can’t see u and I live in a duality system electromagnet system
I was a deep sea navigator for eleven years tramping all around the world we only had a magnetic compass a sextant and a chronometer Starting in the 1950s The current growth round the world single handed race revived my interest in celestial navigation which I had completely forgotten. your explanation is superb and very clear I am thoroughly enjoying re learning even though at 86y I only sail in local Uk estuarys
Hi Ken, I got so much pleasure out of your note - especially knowing that you are still sailing at 86. I guess I can look forward to another 15 plus years of enjoying sailing if I can stay as active as you! Congratulations! "God doesn't count the days spent sailing." Will
Dear Captain Lesh. For 25 years I have held a British Yachtmaster Offshore license (150 n.m from shore) with which I work in the yachting industry. At the time I acquired that license I also took the theory exam for the British Yachtmaster Ocean license. Just recently I delivered a yacht from New York to the BVI's which gave me the opportunity to take a shot at the final oral exam after an ocean passage, and at last get my full Ocean license. But you know, 25 years is 25 years, and I found that the astro nav was almost a complete re learn - and my work demands were piled on top of my atro study. But then I found your You Tube Lectures.......thank you so much for being willing to share your knowledge and take the time to make the videos. Your teaching approach/method is fantastic. I now have passed my Yachtmaster Ocean final exam, and my work horizons and literal horizon are now extended. Many thanks, Patrick Truscott of zigzagsailing.com (originally from Cornwall, UK. Now living and working in Turkey).
Hey captain Lesh. Thanks so much for taking time to re-introduce CN to me. I studied the subject 40-years ago as a hobby, and had forgotten much of the basics. You set me straight. I never made that crossing from Long Beach, CA to Oahu in my 20-foot Cal as planned (that would've been a rough ride in that little tub, no doubt). But now I'm interested again. I've had an old Davis Mark IV plastic sextant since I was a young man. I recently acquired a Celestaire Astra sextant and having great fun practicing with an artificial horizon. Who knows, I just may make that crossing one day. Very enjoyable and elegant science. Thanks for your help and inspiration.
This is the best simplified version of teaching celestial navigation on TH-cam. Best thing being that , he does not uses the jargon. Wonderful work sir.
It's such a nice feeling when the fog in my brain suddenly clears up. Finally I understand the reasoning behind the reduction tables. Thank you so much! You are a great teacher.
In the 70’s as an Apprentice we were taught Celestial Navigation in a really confused and over complicated way, I did pass the exams but it was so challenging. Wanting to relearn to go blue water sailing I have found Will’s approach breathtakingly simple and understandable. Thank you
To Mr Will Lesh, Thank-you for the video, "Celestial Navigation made easy. Well done and I enjoyed. You look good with the white beard, in fact I'm growing one also. Going to glue the deck on the T65 tomorrow with the help of my daughter in Virginia, near Virginia Tech college where she lives. Thanks again! Joseph Michael
Mr. Lesh, many thanks. I've self taught CN to myself over the last 2 months thanks to fine souls as yourself. I spent $1200 on an Astra IIIb sextant and am taking sights and crunching numbers and plotting positions and now looking for challenges. Hope to get lost so I can find myself again. You, Sir, are a wonderful teacher!
This is amazing. I have been cracking my head around this subject, doing a online course and not understanding half of it. Just went throw part one and everything just makes a lot more sense. I cannot find the words to appreciate the effort and the amazing work and the invaluable help and knowledge that this video brings for someone preparing and RYA Ocean Yachtmaster.
amazing stuff ! I rewatch it every 2 years :) after few times - I fell much more confident now .... and start using my sextant on Baltic Sea (just for training purposes). Cheers
I just wanted to say thank you so much for making such a (seemingly) in-depth video about celestial navigation. I've had only the most basic understanding of navigation before this, so your time and effort to explain everything and methodically build up on that knowledge is masterful in my opinion. I think all of these negative comments simply don't understand your goal which, to me, seems to be to present such a daunting field of knowledge so that everyone can keep up and understand. So once more, thank you for your time and effort
Your explanation of the CN concept is fantastic, you have managed to present this subject in the clearest and simplest possible manner. After this video I really understand what's behind the different steps and what exact purpose each step serves. I finally got it. Thank you so much!
Will, I would like to thank you on explaining so patiently what every other instructional publication or video has tried to do. As a longhaul airline pilot I rely on GPS and Inertial navigation totally, but as a sailor I could use a sextant but never understood way the information the was derived. Problem is sailing in the British Isles the sun is never out for long. Thanks again for taking the time to produce this. Rgds Stu
Thank you for this very good video. I thought I already had a decent understanding of celestial navigation from a course I took several years ago, but your video has made the underlying principles much clearer. Thanks again.
I Just want to say thank you Sir, at this moment I am doing the Ocean skipper degree, and you've helped me a lot, because of you I finaly understand celestial navegation, again thank you Sir.
Thank you for creating such an informative video on celestial navigation! I've always been fascinated by this traditional method of navigating at sea, and your explanations and demonstrations were clear and easy to follow. Your passion for the topic really shone through and made the video even more enjoyable to watch. I can't wait to try out some of these techniques on my next boating trip. Thanks again for sharing your expertise!
I first heard about celestial navigation right at a historical fort reenactment type thing at the engineers camp right before I was going to go back to school to start my undergrad degree in engineering…I became fascinated by the concept. This connects so well to all my previous math experience and ties the real world and the simple math concepts together.
A great explanation of Celestial Navigation. Your interest in your topic shines through. Step by step you explain and demystify what is often considered an esoteric topic. I was a navigator in the R.C.A.F. in the 50s and we had some good instructors. Canada had developed a lot of experience training aircrew during WW 11 under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. However I wish I'd had your video available when learning celestial navigation in those years. In training we used a bubble sextant and took observations through an astrodome, so one of our corrections to Height Sextant was dome "refraction" as the dome was thicker on the bottom. In my subsequent air force career I never had opportunity to practice celestial navigation, as I went on to airborne interception training. in those days of the Cold War. I was second man in an all weather fighter, -- the CF-100. It was great revisiting celestial navigation after some sixty years. Thanks so much for your great video.
This made me get a 1967 vintage DDR Freiberger sextant. I also got a Nautical Almanac and managed to program my SwissMicros DM15 to help with these calculations. Works very well. Oh yeah a WWII bubble sextant too. 😅 There’s also a theodolite here… deep 🐇 hole this!
Love this and your presentation style. Very inviting and not at all intimidating. Who needs Netflix although I’m savoring rather than binge watching.Thank you from Ireland.
1:48:44 Something comes to mind as an easy mental thing to think about it. You have two elevation angles, 30deg and 31deg. Just like angular sizes get smaller as you get further from an object, elevation angles get smaller as you get further from an object's GP.
Hi Will, Tks for response. Great you took the initiative to record his story that otherwise would have probably been lost. I recently read Sir Francis Chichester autobiography and this kind of reminds me of his story. It’s a fascinating read if you ever get your hands on it. These guys seen hard times that molded them into great men. We will never see their likes again that’s for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Chichester is definitely one of my all time heroes. I have read many of his Gypsy Moth books. I will look for his autobiography to see if I have read it yet. Amazing personality!
Hi John, Thanks for your great comment. It is a fun subject. Part 2 is launched and ready on TH-cam. Just search for Celestial Navigation Made Easy and part 2 should be right there. You may need to refresh your screen for part 2 to appear, but I would not expect so. Enjoy! Will
@@TippeCanoeT50 Dear Bill, thank you, I will check it out course 2 over the next few days. I got a brief introduction to celestial navigation while in the USCG. I was a cook but one of the officers was giving some informal lessons while we were deployed off the coast of Africa in the summer of 1974. Later, as a civilian, I was part of a crew of 3 on a 41' Morgan out islander that in 1980 sailed from Norway to Baffin Bay. I wasn't the chief navigator on that trip, my job cooking and handling the boat keeping track of dead reckoning and helping with the sextant readings. We mostly relied on Sun shots and doing our best to keep good track of our DR. Seas were too rough most of the trip for stars. It was a great experience, I saw some heavy seas while in the Guard but that was a 378' cutter - being in a 41' you really get upclose and personal with some hellish seas. We came within 2 miles of Cape Farewell with gale force winds knocking us about 1,000 miles off course. We dealt with gale force 7to 9 with bursts of 10 for4-5 days then beat into a force 5-7 NW wind for 4 days. My younger brother has just bought a Shannon 43' and he wants to do a cross Atlantic in the next couple years. So I figured it would be good to catch up. I like the way you are explaining and breaking down the concepts. I'm almost there, your advice about drawing the diagrams is key to understanding. Thanks again for your time and effort putting this course together.
This is exactly how I write technical documentation for complex banking and pharma processes. General to specific. It's always frustrating to see a lecturer pile loads of data on the heads of new students without first explaining to them what, exactly, they are doing or trying to understand. Hats off to you. "How are you with differential calculus?" lmao. Good one.
Brilliant -- stayed with it all the way to the 3rd diagram then got a bit lost but went back later , looked again and got it . Thanks . Will now go over it again and make sure before looking at part 2 .
I was pleased to find that Google Maps accepts latitude and longitude and comes up with a location. However, when I asked to calculate the travel time from Everson, Washington, by walking, Google said it was not able to do this - and the same for car, bus, and bicycle which I found disappointing! That looks like a beautiful island off the coast of Brazil. Google Maps placed your location in the middle of the channel between the mainland and the island. Happy Sailing, Will
2:13:27 if anyone has a problem understanding the 'moving of the problem around', ask yourselves: 'q: what are we trying to do?", 'a: reduce the table size such that we can still get a displacement vector (distance and angle) from GP to AP but using 3 variables instead of three' it helped me get it :-)
Thank you! If I have time I will try to do a short follow up to Part 2 to cover a few more areas of interest based on some good questions that different people have asked. Stay tuned after watching Part 2!
To get LONGITUDE directly from the stars at night three is a very simple method. Measure the Local Hour Angle of a star around Polaris. Add the LHA to Right Ascension of the star to get Local Meridian Time. Then subtract LMT from Greenwich Meridian Time obtained for the same moment, and you have a longitude. I have been doing this for a few years and it works
Mr Lesh. Excellent and well done. A very simple explanation that is really complicated if it wasn't for people taking their time to explain this in such a practical manner. Thank you.
I really enjoyed both episodes and learned so much. You are a great teacher. We will sail across the Atlantic this spring as part of my Charity SailForEpilepsy. We will now practice our celestial navigation and will follow your tips.
The best! I have seen many movies and read a few books about CN. Like most of us I had a hard time to understand the concept of the “assumed position” (which is a trick only man kind could come up with, amazing). This is by far the best explanation I came across.Thank you mister. Hope one day (soon!) you add the mentioned second part. All the best for you!
I am very appreciated, Sir. It's really easiest and best description and i felt totally understand whole think clearly. Hoping and excitedly waiting you continue to get us informed with your precious knowledge !
Thanks you so much, I really enjoyed this video. You explain very well. I'm just a person interested in the subject, Ive discovered it just recently, and find it fascinating.
Many thanks for the great introduction to celestial navigation. I don't sail but am interested in the stars. I downloaded a nautical almanac and am making a simple digital "sextant". With all this new knowledge I will perhaps be able to use them. I hope that I can do something without a set of sight reduction tables, at least some noon sights and polaris will get me started.
Apologies for replying to myself, I should have watched the last 10 minutes before commenting. I thought that the sightings around noon would give me my longitude but you say that this is not very accurate.
I hope you still read this. I took your course awhile ago. I always had a question. Since today you have programs like AutoCad that could blow up a map in software. Using spherical trig to calculate an exact intersection point. I was blown off course going to Hawaii from NewPort Beach. No GPS in 1985. It worked using my computer software. We had a large sail boat. Anyway I love your lectures. Fraser
Great job! Lewis and Clark used a sextant on land to roughly map their progress. "1st- a brass Sextant of 10 Inches radius, graduated to 15' which by the assistance of the nonius was devisible to 15"; and half of this sum by means of the micrometer could readily be distinguished, therefore-7.5" of an angle was perceptible with this instrument; she was also furnished with three eye-pieces, consisting of a hollow tube and two telescopes one of which last reversed the images of observ ed objects. finding on experiment that the reversing telescope when employed as the eye-piece gave me a more full and perfect image than either of the others, I have most generally imployed it in all the observations made with this instrument; when thus prepared I found from a series of observations that the quantity of her index error was 8' 45"-; this sum is therefore considered as the standing error of the instrument unless otherwise expressly mentioned. the altitudes of all objects, observed as well with this instrument as with the Octant were by mens of a reflecting surface; and those stated to have been taken with the sextant are the degrees, minutes, &c shewn by the graduated limb of the instrument at the time of observation and are of course the double altitudes of the objects observed."
You get inside the head of your audience / students and show a deep understanding of how to glue what they already understand from the physical world , and apply it to celestial navigation , thats a rear gift that has been honed for many years of tried and true teaching.. We are privileged to have passionate folks like yourself...
Uh oh, looks like I had better get busy and film Part 2! Thanks for all the positive comments, I am delighted that the explanation has been helpful!
i am tempted, but 7.5 hours sounds daunting at best...
Get some help my man earth is not a globe and nasa knows it u look stupid
U stil trust nasa even after the moon landings were easily debunked even bye a 12 Ty grader. Why keep believing there lies wake up man is from the hole 🕳 sun sits In the black hole horizon out of darkness comes light but men comprehend it not! What ur teaching is a religion pseudoscience! God created this realm we live n the physical the non physical is what we can’t see u and I live in a duality system electromagnet system
Plz stop teaching lies
Unfortunately, flat earthers don't watch these videos, because they claim CN can only be done if the earth is flat....
I was a deep sea navigator for eleven years tramping all around the world we only had a magnetic compass a sextant and a chronometer
Starting in the 1950s
The current growth round the world single handed race revived my interest in celestial navigation which I had completely forgotten. your explanation is superb and very clear I am thoroughly enjoying re learning even though at 86y I only sail in local Uk estuarys
Hi Ken, I got so much pleasure out of your note - especially knowing that you are still sailing at 86. I guess I can look forward to another 15 plus years of enjoying sailing if I can stay as active as you! Congratulations! "God doesn't count the days spent sailing."
Will
I wish i could do that
This guy’s just great. Im a novice and this instructor is exactly what I need to understand the concepts of navigation.
Dear Captain Lesh. For 25 years I have held a British Yachtmaster Offshore license (150 n.m from shore) with which I work in the yachting industry. At the time I acquired that license I also took the theory exam for the British Yachtmaster Ocean license. Just recently I delivered a yacht from New York to the BVI's which gave me the opportunity to take a shot at the final oral exam after an ocean passage, and at last get my full Ocean license. But you know, 25 years is 25 years, and I found that the astro nav was almost a complete re learn - and my work demands were piled on top of my atro study.
But then I found your You Tube Lectures.......thank you so much for being willing to share your knowledge and take the time to make the videos. Your teaching approach/method is fantastic. I now have passed my Yachtmaster Ocean final exam, and my work horizons and literal horizon are now extended.
Many thanks, Patrick Truscott of zigzagsailing.com (originally from Cornwall, UK. Now living and working in Turkey).
9:00 The basics: longitude, latitude, geometry. (36:46,56:00)
1:11:44 Equipment: sextants and tables.
1:41:00 Putting it all together.
You're a hero.
Hey captain Lesh. Thanks so much for taking time to re-introduce CN to me. I studied the subject 40-years ago as a hobby, and had forgotten much of the basics. You set me straight. I never made that crossing from Long Beach, CA to Oahu in my 20-foot Cal as planned (that would've been a rough ride in that little tub, no doubt). But now I'm interested again. I've had an old Davis Mark IV plastic sextant since I was a young man. I recently acquired a Celestaire Astra sextant and having great fun practicing with an artificial horizon. Who knows, I just may make that crossing one day. Very enjoyable and elegant science. Thanks for your help and inspiration.
This is the best simplified version of teaching celestial navigation on TH-cam. Best thing being that , he does not uses the jargon. Wonderful work sir.
It's such a nice feeling when the fog in my brain suddenly clears up. Finally I understand the reasoning behind the reduction tables. Thank you so much! You are a great teacher.
Same Feeling
I've been studying cel nav for ages and this has made it so simple and clear. Looking forward to your next video
In the 70’s as an Apprentice we were taught Celestial Navigation in a really confused and over complicated way, I did pass the exams but it was so challenging. Wanting to relearn to go blue water sailing I have found Will’s approach breathtakingly simple and understandable. Thank you
To Mr Will Lesh, Thank-you for the video, "Celestial Navigation made easy. Well done and I enjoyed. You look good with the white beard, in fact I'm growing one also. Going to glue the deck on the T65 tomorrow with the help of my daughter in Virginia, near Virginia Tech college where she lives. Thanks again! Joseph Michael
Mr. Lesh, many thanks. I've self taught CN to myself over the last 2 months thanks to fine souls as yourself. I spent $1200 on an Astra IIIb sextant and am taking sights and crunching numbers and plotting positions and now looking for challenges. Hope to get lost so I can find myself again. You, Sir, are a wonderful teacher!
This is amazing. I have been cracking my head around this subject, doing a online course and not understanding half of it.
Just went throw part one and everything just makes a lot more sense.
I cannot find the words to appreciate the effort and the amazing work and the invaluable help and knowledge that this video brings for someone preparing and RYA Ocean Yachtmaster.
I'm trying to master the astrolabe never understood how a Sexton works with a curved horizon
Perfect declared! Thank you so much am have a grat time 👍🏽😎🌎🌞
I’m so 😊😅😅
amazing stuff ! I rewatch it every 2 years :) after few times - I fell much more confident now .... and start using my sextant on Baltic Sea (just for training purposes). Cheers
Thank you very much for the great effort extended to educate people , very well explained ! God bless you 🙏😇👍🤗
Thanks for such a clear and slow paced explanation. You have answered many questions that I had when I tried to learn celestial navigation by myself.
I just wanted to say thank you so much for making such a (seemingly) in-depth video about celestial navigation. I've had only the most basic understanding of navigation before this, so your time and effort to explain everything and methodically build up on that knowledge is masterful in my opinion. I think all of these negative comments simply don't understand your goal which, to me, seems to be to present such a daunting field of knowledge so that everyone can keep up and understand. So once more, thank you for your time and effort
Far and away the best video on celestial navigation. Thank you very much for sharing it.
Congratulations on your teaching. Easy understanding.
Your explanation of the CN concept is fantastic, you have managed to present this subject in the clearest and simplest possible manner. After this video I really understand what's behind the different steps and what exact purpose each step serves. I finally got it. Thank you so much!
Brilliant explanation. Thank-you for taking the time to help us!
Will, I would like to thank you on explaining so patiently what every other instructional publication or video has tried to do. As a longhaul airline pilot I rely on GPS and Inertial navigation totally, but as a sailor I could use a sextant but never understood way the information the was derived. Problem is sailing in the British Isles the sun is never out for long. Thanks again for taking the time to produce this. Rgds Stu
I'm over 40 now and I didn't know that about Latitude! A lot of good stuff to know when I go out sailing. Thanks!
English is not even my native language, but the video you made is so clear that I am understanding better now than lectures I had in my own language!
The clearest tuition I have found. Thank you.
Great simplified and informative presentation! It had definitely made it easy to understand. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge!
Thank you for this very good video. I thought I already had a decent understanding of celestial navigation from a course I took several years ago, but your video has made the underlying principles much clearer. Thanks again.
That was demystifying something I always thought was inscrutable.You are indeed a Celestial Lecturer Sir!
The mind of an ocean sailor - 'we're 2400 miles away; we'll be there pretty soon'
What a great teacher. This whole thing is one continuous take and each minute is full of information. Instant subscribe. Great work!!
I Just want to say thank you Sir, at this moment I am doing the Ocean skipper degree, and you've helped me a lot, because of you I finaly understand celestial navegation, again thank you Sir.
Thank you for creating such an informative video on celestial navigation! I've always been fascinated by this traditional method of navigating at sea, and your explanations and demonstrations were clear and easy to follow. Your passion for the topic really shone through and made the video even more enjoyable to watch. I can't wait to try out some of these techniques on my next boating trip. Thanks again for sharing your expertise!
Fortunately no useless Astronomy knowledge is given in this lesson. Congratulations!
I love this guy's teaching. This is much easier to understand.
Lawdy, this was like those 1 credit hour labs that lasted 3-4hr weekly +wkend follow-ups ... very good, thx.
A 2-hour video titled "Celestial Navigation Made Easy"? 🤔 FANTASTIC!
It’s actually 2 hours and 40 mins lol
Best Dang Course on Navigation on the internet, Thank You Sir!
I first heard about celestial navigation right at a historical fort reenactment type thing at the engineers camp right before I was going to go back to school to start my undergrad degree in engineering…I became fascinated by the concept. This connects so well to all my previous math experience and ties the real world and the simple math concepts together.
“There is nothing as practical as a well understood theory “
Thank you. Very informative. I am looking forward to Part 2.
Sir, you are a great teacher, and I have an advanced degree in learning !
Thank you for a great Video, Best i have ever seen on "Celestial Navigation".
A great explanation of Celestial Navigation. Your interest in your topic shines through.
Step by step you explain and demystify what is often considered an esoteric topic.
I was a navigator in the R.C.A.F. in the 50s and we had some good instructors.
Canada had developed a lot of experience training aircrew during WW 11 under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
However I wish I'd had your video available when learning celestial navigation in those years.
In training we used a bubble sextant and took observations through an astrodome, so one of our corrections to Height Sextant was dome "refraction" as the dome was thicker on the bottom.
In my subsequent air force career I never had opportunity to practice celestial navigation, as I went on to airborne interception training. in those days of the Cold War. I was second man in an all weather fighter, -- the CF-100.
It was great revisiting celestial navigation after some sixty years.
Thanks so much for your great video.
This made me get a 1967 vintage DDR Freiberger sextant. I also got a Nautical Almanac and managed to program my SwissMicros DM15 to help with these calculations. Works very well.
Oh yeah a WWII bubble sextant too. 😅 There’s also a theodolite here… deep 🐇 hole this!
Looked this up for I have been listening to podcasts and audio books on explorers. What a great find, very interesting and you are very entertaining.
brilliant :) many thanks - wow - I finally understand every naval novel I read - provides great perspective when reading Hornblower
Thanks Will enjoyed the presentation and diffidently interested in part 2! Nice job.
The best video about the theme. Congratulations Master!!!
A true master and teacher. I have watched this 3 times with joy. Thank you
Subscribed and liked. You are doing the Lord’s work 👍
Love this and your presentation style. Very inviting and not at all intimidating. Who needs Netflix although I’m savoring rather than binge watching.Thank you from Ireland.
1:48:44 Something comes to mind as an easy mental thing to think about it. You have two elevation angles, 30deg and 31deg. Just like angular sizes get smaller as you get further from an object, elevation angles get smaller as you get further from an object's GP.
have just enrolled in a RYA celestial navigation course and am using this a primer. Thank you.
By far the easiest explanation I have seen . I actually understand now . Thank you so much.
Thanks a lot. Great way to explain it, Finally I got it. Looking foreward to episode two.
Hi Will, Tks for response. Great you took the initiative to record his story that otherwise would have probably been lost. I recently read Sir Francis Chichester autobiography and this kind of reminds me of his story. It’s a fascinating read if you ever get your hands on it. These guys seen hard times that molded them into great men. We will never see their likes again that’s for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Chichester is definitely one of my all time heroes. I have read many of his Gypsy Moth books. I will look for his autobiography to see if I have read it yet. Amazing personality!
Amazing video. You're a fantastic teacher
We appreciate you! Thank you for your break downs it is so important.
Thank you so much! I am very very glad this video series exists!
Thank you sir for this extremely clear lesson. Can't believe this things is free on the internet
Nicely done Captain. Thank you for breaking it down so effectively. Hope you find the time to make the second part.
Hi John, Thanks for your great comment. It is a fun subject. Part 2 is launched and ready on TH-cam. Just search for Celestial Navigation Made Easy and part 2 should be right there. You may need to refresh your screen for part 2 to appear, but I would not expect so. Enjoy! Will
@@TippeCanoeT50 Dear Bill, thank you, I will check it out course 2 over the next few days. I got a brief introduction to celestial navigation while in the USCG. I was a cook but one of the officers was giving some informal lessons while we were deployed off the coast of Africa in the summer of 1974. Later, as a civilian, I was part of a crew of 3 on a 41' Morgan out islander that in 1980 sailed from Norway to Baffin Bay. I wasn't the chief navigator on that trip, my job cooking and handling the boat keeping track of dead reckoning and helping with the sextant readings. We mostly relied on Sun shots and doing our best to keep good track of our DR. Seas were too rough most of the trip for stars. It was a great experience, I saw some heavy seas while in the Guard but that was a 378' cutter - being in a 41' you really get upclose and personal with some hellish seas. We came within 2 miles of Cape Farewell with gale force winds knocking us about 1,000 miles off course. We dealt with gale force 7to 9 with bursts of 10 for4-5 days then beat into a force 5-7 NW wind for 4 days.
My younger brother has just bought a Shannon 43' and he wants to do a cross Atlantic in the next couple years. So I figured it would be good to catch up. I like the way you are explaining and breaking down the concepts. I'm almost there, your advice about drawing the diagrams is key to understanding. Thanks again for your time and effort putting this course together.
This is exactly how I write technical documentation for complex banking and pharma processes. General to specific. It's always frustrating to see a lecturer pile loads of data on the heads of new students without first explaining to them what, exactly, they are doing or trying to understand. Hats off to you. "How are you with differential calculus?" lmao. Good one.
Thank you so much Sir, for taking so much time to hold that wonderful lesson to us. It was worth every minute and now I'll start with lesson 2. :-)
wow thank you so much for the work you invested in this video...all the videos in my mother language i didnt get it...but this one is epic...thank you
Thank you for taking the time to do this. Much appreciated.
Brilliant -- stayed with it all the way to the 3rd diagram then got a bit lost but went back later , looked again and got it . Thanks . Will now go over it again and make sure before looking at part 2 .
Yes,, same here. I think that segment needs a little work to provide clarity....
I sincerely appreciate sharing your knowledge. Thanks a lot.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THESE VIDEOS. YOU ARE MY TUTOR
The best explanation. Thanks from 23°46'48.0"S 45°22'14.3"W
I was pleased to find that Google Maps accepts latitude and longitude and comes up with a location. However, when I asked to calculate the travel time from Everson, Washington, by walking, Google said it was not able to do this - and the same for car, bus, and bicycle which I found disappointing! That looks like a beautiful island off the coast of Brazil. Google Maps placed your location in the middle of the channel between the mainland and the island. Happy Sailing,
Will
This was very simplified, I finally understood celestial navigation.
2:13:27 if anyone has a problem understanding the 'moving of the problem around', ask yourselves: 'q: what are we trying to do?", 'a: reduce the table size such that we can still get a displacement vector (distance and angle) from GP to AP but using 3 variables instead of three' it helped me get it :-)
This was awesome and so detailed! I took copious notes!!! Thank you!
Thank you! If I have time I will try to do a short follow up to Part 2 to cover a few more areas of interest based on some good questions that different people have asked. Stay tuned after watching Part 2!
Thank you from Switzerland!
u hav actually made cellnav easy...very informative video...i always thought of cellnav as some rocket science bt not now....thank u sir...cheers
great strategy of teaching , thanks
I like to reserve "declination" for discussion about the variance between true and magnetic north. I understand your use. Thanks for the explanation
You are a genius..take a bow👏👏👏
To get LONGITUDE directly from the stars at night three is a very simple method. Measure the Local Hour Angle of a star around Polaris. Add the LHA to Right Ascension of the star to get Local Meridian Time. Then subtract LMT from Greenwich Meridian Time obtained for the same moment, and you have a longitude. I have been doing this for a few years and it works
Thank you so much for explaining CelNav very clearly now all the numbers in the almanac makes sense now.
Mr Lesh. Excellent and well done. A very simple explanation that is really complicated if it wasn't for people taking their time to explain this in such a practical manner. Thank you.
I really enjoyed both episodes and learned so much. You are a great teacher. We will sail across the Atlantic this spring as part of my Charity SailForEpilepsy. We will now practice our celestial navigation and will follow your tips.
Take a shot for everytime he says "understand", LOL, great video. Thank you
Here is the link to Part 2 of Celestial Navigation Made Easy! th-cam.com/video/yu5R5mrrGB0/w-d-xo.html
Love the way you explain things. Learned something new and important today. Thanks for sharing.
The best!
I have seen many movies and read a few books about CN. Like most of us I had a hard time to understand the concept of the “assumed position” (which is a trick only man kind could come up with, amazing). This is by far the best explanation I came across.Thank you mister. Hope one day (soon!) you add the mentioned second part. All the best for you!
Things like this fascinate me. Spellbound through out. Massive thanks for this video :)
Thanks Roger. So glad you enjoyed it!
I am very appreciated, Sir. It's really easiest and best description and i felt totally understand whole think clearly. Hoping and excitedly waiting you continue to get us informed with your precious knowledge !
Thank you for the video and the wonderful knowledge
Very informative, learned a lot. Where is part 2?
Merci,this is the most clear explanation.
Thanks you so much, I really enjoyed this video. You explain very well. I'm just a person interested in the subject, Ive discovered it just recently, and find it fascinating.
Many thanks for the great introduction to celestial navigation. I don't sail but am interested in the stars. I downloaded a nautical almanac and am making a simple digital "sextant". With all this new knowledge I will perhaps be able to use them. I hope that I can do something without a set of sight reduction tables, at least some noon sights and polaris will get me started.
Apologies for replying to myself, I should have watched the last 10 minutes before commenting. I thought that the sightings around noon would give me my longitude but you say that this is not very accurate.
I hope you still read this. I took your course awhile ago. I always had a question. Since today you have programs like AutoCad that could blow up a map in software. Using spherical trig to calculate an exact intersection point.
I was blown off course going to Hawaii from NewPort Beach. No GPS in 1985. It worked using my computer software. We had a large sail boat.
Anyway I love your lectures.
Fraser
Thanks very much for doing this. It is a very clear explanation and easy to follow - appreciate your effort.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic teacher👍👍👍
I, too, would like to see part two one day. Well done on part one!
Part 2 is launched on TH-cam! Hope it is helpful. Thanks for the nice comment!
Great job! Lewis and Clark used a sextant on land to roughly map their progress. "1st- a brass Sextant of 10 Inches radius, graduated to 15' which by the assistance of the nonius was devisible to 15"; and half of this sum by means of the micrometer could readily be distinguished, therefore-7.5" of an angle was perceptible with this instrument; she was also furnished with three eye-pieces, consisting of a hollow tube and two telescopes one of which last reversed the images of observ ed objects. finding on experiment that the reversing telescope when employed as the eye-piece gave me a more full and perfect image than either of the others, I have most generally imployed it in all the observations made with this instrument; when thus prepared I found from a series of observations that the quantity of her index error was 8' 45"-; this sum is therefore considered as the standing error of the instrument unless otherwise expressly mentioned. the altitudes of all objects, observed as well with this instrument as with the Octant were by mens of a reflecting surface; and those stated to have been taken with the sextant are the degrees, minutes, &c shewn by the graduated limb of the instrument at the time of observation and are of course the double altitudes of the objects observed."
Excellent video! Thank you for explaining.
Using your info to know where I am when I am trecking. Thank you so much. ❤️❤️❤️
Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm.Remember the days when I read about Eratosthenes.