Find Your Way at Sea, No Matter What

“Inherently interesting and fun to read . . . provides the clearest understanding of general navigation principles we've seen yet.”--BoatU.S.

“Thorough and authoritative.”--Sea Kayaker

“A definitive work of instant appeal to seamen of all levels of experience.”--The Navigation Foundation

Every sailor knows that instruments can fail. Things get wet, break, fall overboard. Whether you’re safe on your boat or drifting in a life raft, let David Burch show you how to find your way no matter what navigational equipment you have. Often relying on common materials like a small stick, a plastic bottle, even a pair of sunglasses, Burch explains how to make use of all available means--from the ancient skills of Polynesian navigators to the contrails of airliners overhead--to calculate speed, direction, latitude, and longitude and to perform all aspects of piloting and dead reckoning. Learn how to

• Steer by sun, stars, wind, and swells
• Estimate current and leeway
• Improvise your own knotmeter or plumb-bob sextant
• Find the sun in a fogbank
• Estimate latitude with a plate and a knotted string
• And more vital information

David Burch, the director of the Starpath School of Navigation in Seattle, Washington, has been teaching navigation and seamanship since 1977. He has logged more than 60,000 sea miles, including three wins in the trans-Pacific Victoria to Maui yacht race. He is the author of nine books on marine navigation, including Emergency Navigation (International Marine, 1984), and his magazine articles have appeared in Cruising World, Ocean Navigator, Sailing, and Sea Kayaker. He holds a U.S. Coast Guard Master's license (100 tons). He is also a past Fulbright Scholar and holds a PhD in physics. HOMETOWN: Seattle, WA