Thomas Pickert wrote:And please don't answer with longitude or latitude. I keep confusing the two terms, and I can't find a way to remember them correctly.
Lol... I had the same problem for years.
A good way to remember them: They always start with pos. N or S.
So lat: N or S..
Long: E or W.
And yes, it gives you both, as long as you know the accurate time, which has been the great problem for ages, untill a carpenter called "Harris" invented an accurate and small clock to be used on board of ships.
And to be honest, I forgot all about using a sextant... We rarely use them anymore (Never). But when well practiced, I could get a damn accurate position by using the noon sun only, and in less than 10 minutes.
Note that at nautical school, we barely practiced using the sextant anymore as it was outdated already. It's not difficult tho, so while on an oceancrossing with little to do it's really easy and fun to practise some more... But on the busy european waters with all its narrows and heavy traffic, it's suicide since we generally have a 1 man bridge watch. (Officially we have AB's as a lookout, but they're useless).
Enough accidents already as it is using GPS and digital charts.
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"and so are we..."
They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and people"
"and neither do we"
~G.W Bush
This reminds me of: 'Oh yeah, of course I could quit smoking, but I just don't want to!'