Since certain political folks think that repairing and replacing such things as weather, rescue or GPS satellites in a timely manner is a luxury we should do without, it just might be a good time to brush up on your celestial navigation skills...
Really!
The thing to keep in mind is using the stars to navigate is actually pretty easy, does not cost a lot, and can even be fun! What's not to like?
I've always been a plastic sextant kind of guy... Metal sextants tend to be expensive and they weigh enough to make taking a sight in a rough sea an unwieldy exercise... Plastic, on the other hand is cheap, light, and works just as well as the heavier metal and while, way back when, I had planned to buy a better "proper" sextant and keep the plastic toy one as a back up I just kept the plastic and bought a second plastic to have a back up.
There are a lot of books on how to use a sextant and do the celestial gig but most of them are pretty awful and even confuse me and I already know how it all works. Two books that will get you where you want to go with a minimum of fuss, bother and no heavy mental lifting are "How To Use Plastic Sextants" and "How to Find Where You Are From The Sun". While your at it, getting a copy of "Emergency Navigation, Improvised and No-Instrument Methods for the Prudent Mariner" might not be a bad thing...
Like I said I'm a plastic sextant sort of guy and in the US of A Plastic sextants are mostly by Davis (though you should keep an eye out for the Ebbco/Plastimo sort) and while they make an excellent under $200-dollar sextant I'd rather point you in the direction of their cheap-as-it-gets model...
One reason is that it is cheap and simple and it's easier to take it out without worrying about screwing it up, getting it wet or other sextant related mayhem. Also, because it is simple without apparent complications or gizmos even bareboaters should feel comfortable with its technology. Simple is good!
After you have sorted out that you can find out where you are with the cheap seats sextant you can always get the more expensive one which looks sexier and more sextant like...
Listening to Mr Staples
So it goes...
