I only wish I knew as much about astro navigation as the people who created some of these websites.
Sextant User's Guide by Andrew Evans. Probably the simplest introduction to taking a sunsight on the web. The author takes some liberties with sextant corrections, but it doesn't come much simpler than this if you use my Almanac and Sight Reduction Tables.
Andrew Evan's book Singlehanded Sailing: Thoughts, Tips, Techniques & Tactics
Visit My Harbour. is an online pilotage guide providing detailed information about various ports and harbours, estuaries, rivers and inlets around the coasts of the UK. For a very modest membership fee you have access to thousands of up-to-date charts and photographs, as well as highly informative articles on every aspect of sailing. One of the best resources for amateur yachtsmen and women on the web. Check out my PC-Navigation page for their software and chart packages.
An Introduction to Astro. Some good tutorials, once you get used to the awful background graphics.
A Short Guide to Celestial Navigation by Henning Umland. An excellent website with some really good Java files for you to download.
Celestial Navigation Net. This is a fascinating site well worth a browse thanks to the Webmistress' unique blend of philosophy and solid fact.
NavSoft takes Astronavigation a lot further and here you will find a wealth of detail, including a comprehensive Nautical Almanac, user friendly software well worth the asking price, and an interesting perspective on biblical events. Highly recommended.
Here you can download ephemeris data for the Sun, Moon, Planets and Stars for any three day period. Ideal for a short cruise perhaps?
NIMA Pub.229 Tables. These are the 'proper' sight reduction tables for Marine Navigation published by the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency. I prefer my Sight Reduction Tables for simple sun sights, but the choice is yours.
Navigation Spreadsheets. This chap has forty-seven astronavigation spreadsheets available for you to download. Used to be you had to buy them, but now they're free.
Teacup Navigation. Rodger Farley's website with lots of useful stuff, including how to build your own octant.
Astro Navigation Demystified. This is an excellent website promoting a book of the same title (see side panel). Highly recommended for the clear, concise explanations.
The Nautical Sextant by Bill Morris. Nothing whatsoever on navigation, but undoubtedly the best place to learn about sextants old and new. His blogs covering the restoration of seemingly worthless piles of scrap into gleaming sextants are inspirational. Bill's coffe table book (see side panel) will be a serious reference work for years to come.
Keep Turning Left. Follow Dylan Winter on his leisurely 20,000 mile odyssey around Britain. Enjoy the best sailing videos to grace your screen on YouTube.
Yachting and Boating World Forum. The best forum on the web for anyone interested in sailing, boating, or just messing about on the water. If you have a question, someone is bound to have the answer.
Cruiser's Forum. Another excellent resource for the cruising sailor. Here you will also find a sub-forum for OpenCPN.
Bluemoment.com. A superb website with fascinating and useful articles, downloads, links, a forum, . . . oh, just go and have a browse, you're bound to find something of interest.
McLaren Books. I've spent many hours browsing the shelves of this antiquarian maritime bookstore in Helensburgh and have seldom walked out empty handed.
Rhu Marina's weather station.
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What's New
Sight Reduction Form
Print double sided and on one side you can reduce morning, noon and afternoon sights, while on the reverse you will find a plotting sheet adapted from Andrew Evan's Sextant Users Guide. Ideal for that "Sun-run-Sun" sight. Download.
Universal Plotting Sheet
For the more traditional minded here is a Universal Plotting Sheet to try.
