Sailing at night can be beautiful, but it could quickly turn dangerous if your navigation tools break or malfunction. You find yourself lost in dark waves with limited visibility--the stars might be the only thing you can see with any clarity. Luckily, those stars can help you. Before modern navigation tools were invented, all nightly journeys through the sea relied on stars. In 2,000 B.C., Phoenician sailors developed a map of the stars to guide their ocean voyages. Any sailor today would be wise to study it in case the unexpected occurs.
Tips & Warnings
Create or purchase a star map and keep it on your boat at all times. No matter how well you learn the sky, don't underestimate an emergency's power to temporarily erase information from your brain.
Familiarize yourself with the rest of the night sky. The more familiar you are with the stars, the easier it will be to locate the correct constellations in an emergency and the more confident you will be at reading the sky.
Keep in mind that as the Earth orbits around the sun, your view of the night sky will change. Different stars will rise and set, but the most important constellations will remain.
Create or purchase a star map and keep it on your boat at all times. No matter how well you learn the sky, don't underestimate an emergency's power to temporarily erase information from your brain.
Familiarize yourself with the rest of the night sky. The more familiar you are with the stars, the easier it will be to locate the correct constellations in an emergency and the more confident you will be at reading the sky.
Keep in mind that as the Earth orbits around the sun, your view of the night sky will change. Different stars will rise and set, but the most important constellations will remain.
Don't only study pictures: Locate the stars in the night's sky. Constellations might appear obvious in books, but they can get tricky in real life when the constellations are surrounded by other stars.
Don't only study pictures: Locate the stars in the night's sky. Constellations might appear obvious in books, but they can get tricky in real life when the constellations are surrounded by other stars.
Article Written By Kristin Wood
Kristin Wood entered the media industry in 2006 as a proofreader. She began her writing career in 2008, with work appearing in several online magazines, corporate blogs, nonprofit websites and local newspapers. Wood specializes in education, health, beauty, fashion, business and home-and-garden topics. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Point University.
