About This Book

The underlying philosophy of the book is that students should be encouraged to discover the fundamental principles upon which astro-navigation is based. For this reason, the aim is to encourage them to learn to navigate by the Sun without the aid of automated navigation systems, `ready-reckoners', nautical almanacs, or other sets of astronomical data.

The uniqueness of the book lies in the fact that it provides an accurate method of astro-navigation that does not depend on the use of nautical almanacs and other tables of computed data. For example, the sun's declination is calculated by applying a formula which is the author's own discovery.

The method was developed during the author's naval and teaching careers for use in situations where nautical almanacs and other navigation aids may not be available. Its discovery is of vital importance to mariners. For example, knowledge of the method could mean the difference between life & death in a survival situation. To illustrate this point, the book was used by Gary Fooks and Dominic Marsh as their principal navigation method during the Ward Evans Atlantic Rowing Challenge 2001.