Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Phoenicians — whom the Greeks considered their masters in navigation and who are also cited in the Bible — [Note 2] [3] would have been the first Mediterranean civilization to sail the high seas by sculling and sailing, guided by the sun during the day and by the North Star at night.
For premium support please call: 800-290-4726 more ways to reach us
When lit, they are also usable at night. Customarily, the upper mark is up-hill from the lower (forward) mark. The mariner will know the geometry of the marks/lights from the navigational chart and can understand that when "open" (not one above the other) the ship needs to be navigated to "close" the marks (so one is above the other) and be in ...
The five essentials of sailing describes the five key things that a dinghy sailor uses to sail the boat as efficiently as possible. The five essentials are: [1] [2] [3] Boat balance - which side the sailor sits on and how far out to make sure the boat sails level.
In the European medieval period, navigation was considered part of the set of seven mechanical arts, none of which were used for long voyages across open ocean. Polynesian navigation is probably the earliest form of open-ocean navigation; it was based on memory and observation recorded on scientific instruments like the Marshall Islands Stick Charts of Ocean Swells.
A sailing vessel heels when the boat leans over to the side in reaction to wind forces on the sails. A sailing vessel's form stability (derived from the shape of the hull and the position of the center of gravity) is the starting point for resisting heeling. Catamarans and iceboats have a wide stance that makes them resistant to heeling.
The oldest sailing directions, dating back to the middle ages, descended directly from the Greek and Roman periplii: in classical times, in the absence of real nautical charts, navigation was carried out using books that described the coast, not necessarily intended for navigation, but more often consisting of reports of previous voyages, or celebrations of the deeds of leaders or rulers.
Two sample pages of the 2002 Nautical Almanac published by the U.S. Naval Observatory. A nautical almanac is a publication describing the positions of a selection of celestial bodies for the purpose of enabling navigators to use celestial navigation to determine the position of their ship while at sea.