The Pegasus Open 50 Sailboat Log: Lucky Sextant and Heading for the Starting Line [Summer Funnology]
The Pegasus Open 50 Sailboat Log: Lucky Sextant and Heading for the Starting Line [Summer Funnology]
On-board all of our equipment is stateof the art. We’ll use ourGPSappto pin-point our position from the Start to the finish atDiamond Head.
July 4th, 2009
Yet one of the most important pieces of equipment on-board is mysure 1979 Tamaya Sextant. For tradition’s sake (a good thing), theTranspac race organizers wants each boat to submit four completelyreduced sight at the finish line. In other words, at least 4 timesduring the race you have determine your position on the oceansolely by reference to the Stars, Planets, Moon and Sun. Anendangered art. A beautiful skill to have. However one that takestime a lot of practice to learn. Because there are only two of uson board, that’s my job.
Mark Rudigertaught me the basics of celestial navigation duringthe many passages that he and I sailed together. Navigation is askill passed on, navigator to navigator. Especially celestialnavigation. Mark and I sailed and won two Transpacs together in2001 and 2003. Mark, this record attempt is for you.
The principles of celestial navigation are pretty simple: Giventhree distinct celestial objects in the sky, at any given time ifyou measure their elevation over the horizon, there is only onceplace on the planet where you could be. For example at 10 PMtonight as you watched fireworks, if you saw Saturn 19° 32′,Arcturus 62° 55 and Vega 57° 54′ above the horizon, youwould be close to Long Beach, exactly at latitude 33°2′ Northand longitude 118°26′ West. All you need is an instrument tomake those very accurate measurements together with the tools to”reduce those measurements” to your exact estimated position.
I have a “lucky Sextant”. She was made in Tokyo in 1979 and Igot her from Captain, Katayama, a retiring successful Japanesemerchant Captain. Katayama’s last command was the mighty Takarahailing from Yokohama. Katayama told me of many “lucky” voyagesacross the Pacific, mostly between Yokohama and San Francisco,taking Japanese cars and electronics to America and returning withAmerican farm products together with Harley Davidson motorcycles(his favorite) and American Pop culture icons. When CaptainKatayama retired, he wanted to make sure that his “lucky sextant”would be in sound hands and shown proper respect. (All sailors aresuperstitious. I am). So Katayama placed an advert on eBay. Ianswered and we connected. I have several sextants. This is the onethat I want to take with me across the Pacific Ocean: Katayama’s1979 lucky sextant.
July 5th, 2009
The start is at 1PM PST. We leave the dock at 10:30 AM so that weget there in ample time. Our last moment decisions will be whichsails to take or not to take. The rule goes: “If we don’t takethem, we’ll need them, if we take them we will not need them”.That’s mainly for the the very light air sails. They are typicallylarge sails that we have to carry all the way to Honolulu, likeuseless furniture if we don’t use them. However, there is anexorcism quality to this decision. For now, the first 48 hours areforecasted to be wet and wild. Here’sKanaloawelcoming us tothe great Pacific Ocean. That’s good luck!
Philippe KahnfoundedBorland,invented theCamphone, anddecodes human motion. He’s also a fellow outdoorsman, splittingtimeskiing Tahoeandsailing in Santa Cruz. He’ll share his Transpac 2009 sailingrace with us live from the Pegasus Open 50. He and Mark Christensenset the race record for a double handed team in 2008 with a timeof7 days, 15 hours, 17minutes and 50 seconds, besting all boats in overall time forthat year.
[Previous Pegasus Sailing posts on Gizmodo,Pegasus]
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