The barefoot navigator : [navigating with the skill of the ancients] / / Jack Lagan

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910787316703321
• Autore: Lagan Jack
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: London, : Adlard Coles Nautical, 2008, c2006
• ISBN: 1-4729-0321-8
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (161 p.)
• Disciplina: 623.89
• Soggetti: Navigation; Boats and boating; Seamanship
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Copyright; Contents; CONVENTIONS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; A BAREFOOT PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY; GPS: The Death of Navigation?; A Strategy for the Future; PART 1 THE REMARKABLE SKILLS OF THE ANCIENTS; THE PACIFIC ISLANDERS; Just Another Day in Paradise?; Tangata: The Gods of Navigation; 'Feelers of the Sea'; The Chart in Captain William Bligh's Head; Tupaia's Chart; Strategies and Tactics; THE VIKINGS; The Norse Sagas as Cruising Guides; The Polar Stick; Sol-Skuggjáfjol: The Sun-shadow Board; The Uunartoq Compass; PHARAOHS AND PHOENICIANS; King Necho's Big Adventure; Lateen Rigs and Wind CompassesTHE ARABS; Ships of the Desert at Sea; The Rahmãni and the Kamal; THE CHINESE; Sampans and Junk History; Longitude Chinese-style; The South-pointing Needle; TIMELINE OF NAVIGATION AND EXPLORATION; PART 2 PRACTICAL NO-TECH NAVIGATION; WHICH HEADING?; A: The Sun; Rising; Setting; B: The Trade Winds; C: The Movement of the Sea; The waves; The swell; Currents; D: Catch a Rising Star; Above the horizon; The hand of Kaho's apprentice: measuring angles; Finding north using Polaris; Finding south using the Southern Cross; Finding east and west using Orion; The sidereal compassWHERE AM I, ROUGHLY?; Latitude: A Belated Definition; Zenith Stars; Using Polaris to Estimate Latitude; Give Me a Little Latitude: A Navigation Strategy; LANDFALL; E: The Clouds; F: The Birds; G: Reflected and Refracted Swells; H: The Wind: Land and Sea ; Breezes; I: The Water; PART 3 DO-IT-YOURSELF LO-TECH NAVIGATION; DEAD RECKONING; Improvising a Compass; The Watch Compass; The Dutchman's Log; The Home-brew Log-ship; LATITUDE; Kamals and Polar Sticks; The Astrolabe, the Cross-staff and the Backstaff; Improvising Quadrants; Latitude Using the Sun at Noon; Latitude Using the StarsMaking a Sun-shadow Board; LONGITUDE; The Ubiquitous Quartz Watch; Using the Sun at Noon; Using a Compass; Longitude by Polar Stick; A Minimalist Longitude using Kochab; A Combined Declination/EoT Table; PLUMBING THE DEPTHS; PART 4 SURVIVAL NAVIGATION; EMERGENCY KITS AND GRAB-BAGS; NOTES; RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING; Books; Websites; APPENDICES; Appendix 1: Quadrant Scale; Appendix 2: The Barefoot Navigator's Survival Kit; Appendix 3: Declination of Sun for Noon at Greenwich; Appendix 4: Declination of Sun (Small Version); Appendix 5: Schematic for Sun-shadow Board; Appendix 6: Gnomon Settings for the Sun-shadow BoardAppendix 7: Graph for the Equation of Time (EoT); Appendix 8: Small Graph for the Equation of Time (EoT); Appendix 9: The Beaufort Scale; Appendix 10: Global Position Emergency Locator; Appendix 11: Standard Time Zones; Appendix 12: World Ocean Currents; Appendix 13: Combined Table for Declination and Equation of Time (EoT); INDEX; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Z
• Sommario/riassunto: The Barefoot Navigator is an unusual and fascinating exploration of the skills of navigation employed by the ancients and transferrable to the present day. The first half of the book investigates the navigation capabilities of seafarers long before modern navigation instruments or charts became available. For example, how did the Polynesians manage to populate an area of ocean larger than North America simply by analysing clouds, currents, wind direction, sun, stars and the flight patterns of ocean birds? And how did the Vikings routinely travel between Iceland, Greenland and Scandinavia - hug