Celestial Navigation: with the Sight Reduction Tables from "Pub. No 249"
The subject requires some comfort with the basic concepts of navigation, but the prospective navigator only needs to know how to add and subtract either times or angles. Lucid and well-paced, Celestial Navigation starts with fundamentals and definitions which ensure that a motivated student need not bring anything more to the table than his or her willingness to master to subject. Richly illustrated, it includes a chapter over forty pages of review exercises covering all topics.
The cleverness of many of the concepts, explained here, will bring about great intellectual joy and satisfaction. Whether you are a recreational sailor or an individual pursuing professional certification as a navigator, Celestial Navigation will teach you what you need to know.
About the author
In the 1960s, Dominique Prinet worked as a commercial bush pilot in the Canadian Arctic and High Arctic, at a time when radio beacons were the exception and long before the GPS had been invented.
He holds a BASc from UBC and an MBA from McGill, and served as the Marketing VP for Nordair in Montréal and, later, for Canadian Airlines in Vancouver. He taught economics to MBA students at McGill, and went on to manage Air Tanzania for five years. It was during his time in Tanzania that his love of boating truly took hold.
He has sailed on the Indian Ocean out of Dar es Salaam. He has crossed the North Atlantic and sailed to the Caribbean, finding the island of Guadeloupe with his faithful sextant. He has navigated the Mediterranean, the English Channel, and sailed extensively along the Pacific Northwest.
Dominique Prinet is a Power and Sail Instructor, certified for all levels by Sail Canada (formerly Canadian Yachting Association) and the International Sail and Power Academy (ISPA). He is an Instructor-Evaluator for Sail Canada, has taught boating out of Vancouver since 2000, and has delivered Transport Canada courses to professional mariners.
His lifelong passion is teaching. Dominique lives in Vancouver with his wife, who used to teach French at UBC.