Frank, a wonderful course in Lunars. I learned a lot. I admire your teaching skills and your astounding fund of knowledge. I would wish to emulate your style of instruction. Best regards, hope to sign up for your course in Cel. Nav. in Age of Sailing.
Sam Lyness
Advanced Celestial
Winter / Spring 2026:
This is not your grandparents' celestial navigation! In this workshop we focus on celestial for the 21st century, applying traditional sextant sights to modern ocean sailing. In Advanced Celestial we continue directly on the modern sight analysis from Modern Celestial using the streamlined ABC algorithm, and we learn how to find general position fixes from the Sun and also star sights under all conditions. We'll also learn key aspects of the intercept method with Pub.249 Selected Stars tables for fixes.
If you're dreaming about a trans-oceanic voyage or a circum-navigation, in this workshop you'll learn all the techniques to determine latitude and longitude anywhere on Earth using the Sun and key navigational stars. We learn how to adjust celestial lines of position for vessel motion and synchronize Sun and star sights taken at different times for a running fix.
Many navigators give up on the stars and never learn to identify even the brightest like Vega, or Arcturus, or Canopus, let alone Alpheratz or Zubenelgenubi! By the end of this course, you'll know reliable methods and tricks for identifying more than two dozen of the key stars of celestial navigation, enough to sail the globe with confidence for decades. Valuable as much in coastal navigation as in mid-ocean, a navigator who knows the stars follows a perfect compass all night long.
All workshops: $ 149 per person, per workshopCreated and taught by Frank Reed, celestial navigation and astronomy consultant on the team that found Shackleton's "Endurance" in 2022. Also a recent guest expert in celestial navigation on Neil deGrasse Tyson's StarTalk on The National Geographic Channel.
- Nine hours of class sessions.
- Before this workshop: Modern Celestial is strongly recommended.
- Some math you'll need: Introductory algebra concepts and a little basic trigonometry; strong familiarity with latitude and longitude.
- Recommended for ages 18 and up, students as young as age 13 welcome.
- You'll need to purchase the recommended scientific calculator for the class: the Casio fx-260 Solar (original or newer "II" model). These are widely available for less than $15 at Walmart, Staples, and other stores.
If you're registered for an online workshop, you're invited to attend hour-long sextant practical sessions in Rhode Island and Connecticut scheduled as weather and other factors permit. These live, in-person sessions are included in your registration for online classes.
Comments:
Samuel S Lyness wrote: 8👍
Lee Schacter wrote: 2👍
A great course and teacher. Finally got my head around celestial navigation...
John Workman wrote: 20👍
I just took one of Franks classes and it was awesome!!
Frank taught an incredible class on celestial navigation that brought me from novice to some solid understanding of sextants, their history and most importantly their use as a aid to seeing the sea...and knowing where you are on this planet!
Hands on, wealth of knowledge, great resources ... he really covered a lot of ground! There was a lot of math but unlike in my youth, I was on the edge of my seat to soak up knowledge!! Frank made it relatable and real. The sextant which is such an iconic tool of the sea, was demystified. By the end of class i felt comfortable with it. I had mastered how it worked, how to read it and how to adjust it to insure its accuracy.
I came away with all of the cheat sheets and understandings of equations and concepts that breathe the life into what you capture through your sextant sightings.
I would highly recommend Frank and believe Mystic Seaport with its planetarium, an ideal setting for my class with him discovering this timeless tool of the sea.
Frank did a great job keeping the class interesting with visual aids, both on screen and out on the Seaport grounds.
All in all i would highly recommend this class to any and all folks interested in learning about navigation and sextants. Informative and digestible, but most of all useful to the point where i am comfortable with the instrument and have the formulas needed to continuing to set my sights on the horizon!!
I look forward to more classes to learn more from Frank and strengthen my understandings of celestial navigation!
Thank you!!!
John
Frank taught an incredible class on celestial navigation that brought me from novice to some solid understanding of sextants, their history and most importantly their use as a aid to seeing the sea...and knowing where you are on this planet!
Hands on, wealth of knowledge, great resources ... he really covered a lot of ground! There was a lot of math but unlike in my youth, I was on the edge of my seat to soak up knowledge!! Frank made it relatable and real. The sextant which is such an iconic tool of the sea, was demystified. By the end of class i felt comfortable with it. I had mastered how it worked, how to read it and how to adjust it to insure its accuracy.
I came away with all of the cheat sheets and understandings of equations and concepts that breathe the life into what you capture through your sextant sightings.
I would highly recommend Frank and believe Mystic Seaport with its planetarium, an ideal setting for my class with him discovering this timeless tool of the sea.
Frank did a great job keeping the class interesting with visual aids, both on screen and out on the Seaport grounds.
All in all i would highly recommend this class to any and all folks interested in learning about navigation and sextants. Informative and digestible, but most of all useful to the point where i am comfortable with the instrument and have the formulas needed to continuing to set my sights on the horizon!!
I look forward to more classes to learn more from Frank and strengthen my understandings of celestial navigation!
Thank you!!!
John
