Quote:
Originally Posted by Stonius
has anyone ever tried to actually get measurements from one
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Yes, I had to pass navigation exams way back in the 1980's in my sailing days - I used to be a navigator for a couple of crack crews at MHYC.
Within sight of land we usually took bearings of landmarks and triangulated a position from that - which was the point of lighthouses.
But out of sight of land yes you had to be able to calculate long and lat from a sextant and marine chronometer and a slide rule. and you're right, it's not easy on a small yacht. The other gadget was a ships log trailing out the back, a kind of little propeller which integrated the revolutions over time to give an estimate of how far you'd sailed in a line; this had to be adjusted with various corrections too (currents).
Even when GPS arrived, the navigator still had to be able to do it without GPS - in case the GPS unit failed. Electronics don't tolerate salty humid environments well.