The Barefoot Navigator

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 148 pages
• Published by: Sheridan House September 6, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1574092324
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1574092325
• Book Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.7 x 0.5 inches
• Weighs: 14.1 ounces

Product Review
"The Barefoot Navigator is a cleverly written little book that combines the history of the ancient art of navigation with the practical application of those techniques today." -- Ocean Navigator, September/October 2006

"The navigation skills of the ancients were legendary yet seem to pale in comparison with modern technology and navigation research - but The Barefoot Navigator: Navigating with the Skills of the Ancients offers up an important survey of these early skills, and applies them to modern times. From how to analyze clouds and currents to determine direction to how 21st century sailors can integrate these techniques with modern equipment, any sailor will find The Barefoot Navigator intriguing." -- Midwest Book Review, December 2006

Ever wonder how the Polynesians managed to find their way throughout the Pacific? And what about the Vikings? Even if they would have stopped to ask for directions, no one had any. There were no navigation instruments or charts. This book investigates their navigation capabilities and shows you how practical, technology-free navigation can be used to enhance modern navigation. Interesting stuff! --Latitudes and Attitudes, April 2007

This 160-page book is written for those who are bored with navigating solely by GPS and who distrust the total dependency on electronic position-finding. In a way, the author is harking back to a time not long ago when the terms piloting and;seamanship; had special meaning. But to wean us from our electronics addictions, he's returned to square one: the skills of the ancients, who found tiny islands hundreds of miles away by discerning the amplitude, wave-length, and direction of the seas; the positions of stars and constellations; the size and behavior of seabirds; and the like. The Barefoot Navigator is an exciting read that makes a compelling argument: To navigate better and with greater satisfaction, sailors must learn more about the sea around them. --Cruising World, January 2007

To be honest, by the time I finished Jack Lagan s The Barefoot Navigator I had already forgotten most of the low-tech navigation methods he outlines in the book, methods that require a bit more thought than pushing an on button. But that s OK. I don t see myself using a Viking sun-shadow board to track my latitude anytime soon, and may the gods help me should I ever find myself in a position where I would need to. Nor did I feel as if I had just wasted hours of my time, for Lagan is a thoroughly entertaining writer and, if nothing else, I did come away from the book with renewed confidence in my own abilities to locate myself on the planet. After all, I am fairly confident in my ability to locate Polaris and Orion, I m pretty certain I know most of the prevailing wind patterns and I m absolutely certain I know the directions of the rising and the setting sun. By looking at the navigation skills of the ancient seafarers, Lagan takes the information available to anyone standing on a deck (the movement of sun, stars, wind and waves), expands upon it and then shows the reader how it can be used to get from point A to point B across the wide ocean.

The Barefoot Navigator is not a dry recounting of esoteric techniques and mind-numbing calculations, although there is a bit of brain twisting involved. Wittily written in the same easygoing manner of his nautical dictionary, A B Sea, this short book is, in Lagan s own words, part history, part textbook and part polemic. First, Lagan explores the pre-technology navigation techniques of societies and yore, from the Polynesians to the Vikings, Chinese and ancient Egyptians and Arabs. Especially staggering, considering the expanse of the Pacific Ocean, are the navigational feats of the Polynesians. It never ceases to amaze me that these people sailed thousands of miles of open sea, from tiny island speck to speck, using little more than maps made from shells and sticks in the sand. The rest of the book then guides the reader on how to read nature s signposts and gives instructions on building and using simple navigation tools. There s even an appendix with helpful tables and schematics should the reader be moved to make his or her own quadrant or sun-shadow board.

It should also be noted that this book is not a screed against GPS and modern electronic navigation. Rather, it s a reaffirmation that some skills never go out of style, and moreover, knowing those skills connects a human being in a very real way to those navigators of old. It s a tradition well worth the study. I guess I ll have to take another look at Lagan s work. Maybe I ll even make my own sun-shadow board. --Sailing, February 2007

Product Description
The Barefoot Navigator is an unusual and fascinating exploration of the skills of navigation employed by the ancients and transferable to the present day. The first half of the book investigates the navigation capabilities of seafarers long before modern navigation instruments or charts became available. For example, how did the Polynesians manage to populate an area of ocean greater than North America simply by analyzing clouds, currents, wind direction, sun, stars, and the flight patterns of ocean birds? And how did the Vikings routinely travel between Iceland, Greenland and Scandinavia huge tracts of treacherous water? The second part of the book analyzes how the techniques of the ancients can be employed by 21st century seafarers to supplement today s navigational hardware especially in survival situations.

This is a unique analysis of practical technology-free navigation, whose techniques can easily be employed by modern navigators to supplement their personal navigational skills in order to just know where they are. It will fascinate navigators and landlubbers alike.

Reader Reviews
Students of Polynesian history are familiar with tales of sailors crossing vast expanses of the Pacific. Lagan's book, The Barefoot Navigator begins with a discussion of their ancient techniques before exploring other ancient navigators; Norse, Chinese, and Arab. Lagan's premise is that modern sailors are too dependent on electronic navigation tools and that those tools are subject to failure. In contrast the movement of sun and stars, ocean currents, and weather patterns have remained consistent for eons. The prudent sailor will know how to use natural patterns to safely navigate when electronics fail. By following the historical development of navigational techniques, Lagan introduces complex topics in a simple, easy to understand manner. Along the way he shows how ancients used primitive navigation tools to find their way across oceans and deserts. Lagan instructs the sailor on building and using these tools built of string, sticks, and hands and fingers. Informative and entertaining, an evening or two spent with The Barefoot Navigator will yield a wealth of knowledge of interest to any sailor, knowledge that might just help you reach your destination. Dave Lochner NauticalReads