Sextant Talk

[atavist]

was just cleaning my sextant and got to thinking how I would like to have a more traditional one... I have a Celestaire that I picked up in London a few years ago. It works great but as the current trend of my post denote I like traditional things and I'd love to have a more traditoinal old brass sextant... the Celestaire is enameled aluminium... looking around I see some Weems and Plath ones that look very nice as well as some old Frieberger Zeiss ones that while beautiful all have that modern enamel thing going...

Just curious here... what kind of sextant do you have? do you like it? what's your dream sextant?

I'd love to get ahold of a very traditional solid brass (unlacquered) sextant but can't seem to find one that isn't meant to be a bookshelf ornament...

... Yes I know this is impractical but the simple fact is that the sea is sort of my religion, I've found god in the sea where I never could anywhere else, and I find polishing brass instruments (and doing brightwork) rather a meditative religious experience... so I keep looking for more of it...

[redbopeep]

We presently do not have one because hubby wants a very particular one that I'm just ignoring right now. It is a Russian military one. The next choice he has is an older US Navy one. In both cases they are too costly and ugly to boot! Having said that, the best place in the USA to find a good sextant is likely this place in Maryland.

[Wildernesstech]

I have the Celestaire in the Professional Model which is all I will ever need... I have both Split and Whole mirrors and a few other accessories for it. While I really am drawn to the romance of many historic models, they often have much less efficient optics, and some have a terrible grip angle to boot. On a vessel the size of ours this will be far more accurate that I can ever be... even so, I try to shoot multiple sites and average them, or draw a cocked hat on the chart. Were I wealthy, I suppose I could get caught up in collecting the many fascinating collectable models out there. I do however have a small sailing vessel so space is at a premium and I chose the one that would help me the easiest when the not so trusty electronics give out.

[Aquaria]

We have a Â* Â* Freiberg SextantÂ* Â* since 1990. It is from a company building precision mechanical and optical instruments for more than 230 years and as this company is situated in the east of Germany, they equipped the former GDR-ships with sextants. Well, the communist German Democratic Republic gladly died away and became part of the Fedral Republic of Germany in 1990 but then I took the opportunity to buy an excellent instrument for little money. Â*The company is still existing today and they still have the traditional drum sextant (I have) and a lighter instrument (Yacht sextant) in their product line.

There is anouthercompany building sextants in Germany: Â*CassensÂ*Â*Plath : Nice instruments!

Uwe

SY Aquaria

[Aquaria]

Originally Posted by redbopeep

We presently do not have one because hubby wants a very particular one that I'm just ignoring right now.Â*Â*It is a Russian military one.Â*Â*The next choice he has is an older US Navy one.Â*Â*In both cases they are too costly and ugly to boot!Â*Â*Having said that, the best place in the USA to find a good sextant is likely this place in Maryland.

... I should have looked at your link first! Wow, what a variety of nice sextants!!Â*

There the old C.PLATH sextants are still available. Very good instruments but no longer built as the PLATH company changed their profile, now following activities in the field of communication electronics, but does not build sextants and compasses any more, products, the PLATH company grew up with.

Uwe

SY AQUARIA

[KevinBarr]

I love this website. I was just getting ready to post something asking about any good places to find a sextant and sha-bang, here we go. I have the great fortune to be working with a bunch of about-to-retire lads with their master's certificates who are pretty aimiable to giving a helping hand. The local sailing school is asking about $350 to teach you how to use one so the guys in the office siad they would show me how instead. One of them is bringing me in a sextant (a plastic one his wife practiced on) to borrow but I should probably find one of my own to get used to. Mind you, I don't want to spend a mint on it as it will be the back-up to the back-up when it comes to navigation but I figure that if you are going out of sight of land, it is best to have an inkling of how to use an unpowered instrument...

[PeterAlexis]

Hi,
Go to Gumtree
http://www.gumtree.com.au/m-my-ad.html?adId=1020707094

Freiberger Drum Sextant immaculate condition in custom case c/w original documentation and instructions plus "The Sextant Simplified" (a practical explanation of the use of the sextant at sea) book. Only used for doing a navigational course. Sold house and boat so no further use for this item.
Offered for quick sale $400 O.N.O. These are over $750 new today.
Postage/Freight not included in price. Location Hobart Tasmania.
Even in the era of GPS, the classical astronomical position-fixing by the help of luminaries and sextants is still necessary in the professional and sporting navy as well as to the basics of sail training.
Due to malfunctions of electronic equipment, professional sailors never abandon ports without precision devices so that they are able to navigate in the traditional way in case of emergency.
The high accuracy of the Freiberger sextant, the precision and undistorted globe of the star finder as well as the artificial horizon whereby you can replace the natural horizon in poor visibility are trademarks of the FPM Holding GmbH Zeiss which stands for quality and reliability