Emergency Navigation

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