Night sailing, the Celestial Sphere & Carolinian Star Compass
Sailing at night and traditional methods of navigation make the hours of darkness an intriguing experience, especially when you can see how the earth moves. Apparently spinning in an easterly direction at 1,037MPH, (completing its rotation in 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds), it puts the speed of sailing boats, at say 6KTS, into perspective.
Perhaps one of the most enjoyable aspects of the night sky is plotting the rise of stars in the east and tracking them across their diagonal trajectory, south then setting in the west. Whilst this presumes your watching in the northern hemisphere, its fascinating to witness the curved path they take over the course of a few hours.
Meanwhile “circumpolar” stars never actually appear to rise or set at all, visible dependent on latitude, with Polaris anchoring their position in the north, but all stars seen from either South of North Poles are apparently circumpolar.
Notwithstanding the physics, indigenous navigators through millennia used the night sky as a means of successful navigation. Whilst many other natural methods were evolved, including the feel of wave patterns on a boat’s hull and how clouds form above land or islands (you can see this often in the Balearics), night sailing’s visual rewards are indeed written in the stars.
They’re also well documented by Tristan Gooley’s in his books - Natural Navigator, How to Read Water and Wild Signs & Star Paths. Great visual metaphors include the Celestial Sphere and the Carolinian Compass – which all add context to the pleasures of night sailing.
