2020 Celestial Workshop now open for registration!
Join Andy, Mia & friends on the first weekend of February for another weekend of sailing history and Celestial Navigation. This course will take place at the Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis, MD.
All participants are invited to the Celestial Navigation Panel hosted by Eastport Yacht club on Friday night .- the day before our workshop! Panelists include U.S. Naval Academy Leadership and our very own Andy Schell. Information about the Friday evening panel will be posted here shortly.
While there is hardly an argument anymore for celestial as a backup to electronic navigation, it's 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.
Note: There is a minimum 6 people for the course, maximum 12. In the event we don’t reach the minimum, the workshop will be re-scheduled for October 2020.
Workshop Details
This will be a hands-on workshop, where you'll learn the concepts of celestial and do some actual sextant sights on the docks. Plus, you'll get to hang out with some like-minded people in a cool & inspiring environment! The basic course outline looks like this:
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.
Diving into the books and how to 'reduce' a sight.
Optional crew dinner (at your own cost) in town, we book a table.
Day Two (Sunday):
Practice sight reduction problems based on real-world passages Andy & crew have completed.
The running fix concept.
Introduction to star sights
#isbjornsailing crew Dan taking sights offshore from Lunenburg-Annapolis, summer 2016.
Special thanks to Weems & Plath, Eastport Yacht Club and Bacon Sails for helping to organize and promote this celestial event!
Cost is $500, and the Workshop is limited to the first 12 people who sign up.
What the workshop includes:
Copy of Hewitt Schlereth's Celestial in a Nutshell
Use of the universal Plotting Sheet booklet
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)
Coffee & cookies throughout the weekend
Click here to read some of Andy's articles on celestial that he's written over the years.
Weekend Schedule:
Group dinner at the Fall 2016 seminar.
Saturday, Feb 01 ,0900-1700: Workshop starts at 9 am. Coffee and tea (included) during the morning session, with a break from 1200-1300 for lunch (plenty of place around town to grab lunch).
Saturday, Feb 01, 1900: Meetup downtown, location TBC, for an optional group dinner at your own cost. (RSVP required).
Sunday, Feb 02, 09.00-15.30 Workshop Day 2. Coffee & tea in the morning, with a 1200-1300 lunch break. Stay later for Q&A and storytelling if you so choose, but we'll formally end at 1530 for those who need to travel home.
How to Register
To register, click 'Add to Cart' and complete your payment! Follow photos below for instructions on how to complete the signup process...
Max. 12 people - but we need a minimum 6 people to run the course.
1.
Add # of people signing up, then click 'Add to cart'.
2.
Go to cart, then click 'Checkout'
3.
Add contact info, & make payment to complete the Registration
