He PROBABLY meant a parallel ruler but many quartermaster’s use one of these:
I can’t think of how this could possibly be done. A sextant does not measure bearing. This would be like saying “I’m taking star sights for celestial with a gyro repeater.”
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I meant parallel ruler.
See the above yellow sheet of work? And I recently found out he is a gcaptain member so maybe he can elaborate. I asked him to show me how to do an azimuth using a sextant 6 years ago. He brought his sextant to the boat for me. Good guy. We also did a three star at midnight using lit up platforms for the horizon. It was cool.
Yes, we used the bearing circle on the gyro repeater and logged it in the compass correction book.
altitude
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Why? Because I wanted to know how to use a sextant.
Thanks, i’ll see in to it.
No, I think it’s fantastic you want to learn a sextant. I was trying to explain to you what one is and is not used for. So was KC, so was Capt Phoenix.
You ASKED for help on visible horizon corrections, and ASKED for sextant help. I gave you feedback to both, what are you so touchy about? I can’t read your mind, I only know what you post. If you meant to ask for help on “Sextant Altitude” not “Azimuth” say so.
Edit: Correction, I misread your post, you didn’t ask for help. You stated that at one point you needed help with those things. My apologies, carry on with your “sextant azimuths…”
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Diesel said it perfectly so I’ll repost his reply.
And I’ll reiterate my statement:
No, you didn’t.
Yes I did.
That’s NOT an AZIMUTH…
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Yes actually. Bowditch, the Almanac itself, and the Sight Reduction Tables. Easy, no. Completely without help, no, but pretty close. The captains I sailed with gave me good hints on what to study first and looked at my work. I’ve read much more over the years, but those books were what I used to get the basics down.
Now years later I picked up more tricks that were handy at the Star Center doing the Management Level Celestial Course and I really enjoyed that class. But I had what I consider the basics down pretty good by then.
Start with azimuths of the sun plus general theory, nice and easy and it gets you familiar with tools that will also mostly be available in the testing room (Almanac and Sight Reduction Tables).
I understand. Forget I said anything. At least I tried to actually perform some of these tasks at one point and not just test out. Hawespiper, no formal schooling or training.
Why? Just say, “oh yeah, my mistake, I didn’t mean this I meant that” and move on with the conversation.
Technically everyone is required to actually do them to be assessed on them but some people slip through. Beyond that, most people these days, academy and hawsepipe both, never do celestial again after the assessments are complete.
That’s not intended to insult or demean you, I own my own sextant and the most I’ve done since my assessments was practice physically taking star sights.
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You’re right. It was a L.O.P. Azimuth and Amplitude are used with a bearing circle.
Good. Join the crowd. Perhaps it’s a small crowd, but it’s still a crowd.
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Blockquote
That’s actually pretty funny now that I think about it. Good one. Correct me if I’m wrong… Amplitude is performed from the gyro repeater when the sun is on the visible or celestial horizon using the bearing circle or alidade. An Azimuth is performed on the gyro repeater when the sun is 2/3rds above the horizon or higher in the sky using the bearing circle or alidade.
That’s pretty much the deal around here at Gcaptain: A group of erudite friends, awash in highbrow humor, indecipherable to outsiders.
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