Celestial Nav Workshop | Annapolis

While there is hardly an argument anymore for celestial as a backup to electronic navigation, its part of sailing history, and as ocean sailors, we owe it to ourselves to at least have a general understanding of it, I say! Plus, it makes those long night watches that much more enjoyable when you know your place - physically and philosophically - in the universe.

Andy Schell will host another celestial workshop weekend in Annapolis, and for the first time there will be an option to attend virtually via live-stream! The in-person portion of the workshop will be limited to 8 people in Annapolis in order to maximize the learning potential with hands-on support from Andy.

Classroom location TBD.

Workshop Outline

Day Zero // IN-PERSON ONLY (Friday):

• Happy hour and dinner in Annapolis harbor for the in-person attendees.

Day One // (Saturday):

• In-depth discussion of celestial concepts & a series of 'thought exercises' to get you in the right frame of mind and learn your position spatially on the surface of the Earth.
• Hands-on work with the sextant and practice taking sights.
• Break for lunch in town.
• Diving into the books and how to 'reduce' a sight.

Day Two // (Sunday):

• Practice sight reduction problems based on real-world passages Andy & crew have completed.
• The running fix concept.
• Introduction to star sights.

WORKSHOP MATERIALS included:

• Copy of Hewitt Schlereth's Celestial in a Nutshell 
• Universal Plotting sheet booklet
• Notebook, pencil & basic plotting tools (provided by Weems & Plath)

WHAT ELSE IS INCLUDED?

• Use of a pre-owned sextant for practice during the weekend, with the option to buy one at the end of the Workshop (courtesy of Bacon Sails in Annapolis)
• Use of Nautical Almanac & Sight Reduction Tables during workshop (in-person only).