Traveling by Sextant Instead of GPS
MISTAKES WILL BE MADE
Voyaging around the world I loved the quiet of sailing at night through the inky black ocean. Night watch was mine, gazing at stars amid scant traffic in the middle of the sea. Every once in a while, on a cloudless night when the stars were really bright, I would take out a case that held the precious, delicate sextant to test my celestial navigation skills. I understood that finding our position by sextant was mostly vanity; a romantic throwback to the time before electronic chart plotters and GPS.
The sextant felt solid and important, its curves and shiny mirrors connecting me to the era of Captain Cook’s navigator. I always marveled that with numbers gathered from the sextant sighting, a nautical almanac and a clock, you could find out where you are in the world.
But it speaks volumes that I used a GPS to check my accuracy with the sextant. Despite lots of practice, the closest I ever came to our exact position was within 32 miles. There are lots of things that can go awry with that kind of error. So, where a sextant is lyrical, the GPS is freaking magic. Punch in where you are and where you want to go and abracadabra — you’re back on track.
Dreams Don’t Follow a Straight Track
Roughly forever ago, I kissed our sailboat goodbye, moved to land and started living a life that was predictable in a GPS ground coordinate sort of way.
We lived in a log cabin in the woods for years, loving every minute of the peace and beauty. But our distance from the ocean made the idea of taking off again seem, well, too hard. The more time went by, the more I filled with doubt about whether we still have what it takes for truly big adventures.
Though content in our land life, I wistfully studied a 6,000-mile route called the Great Loop that creates an island of the east coast of the United States. But plagued by doubts, I never got earnest in my planning. Years went by and traveling the Great Loop seemed like something I used to want. But then a friend almost died from Covid19. After the crisis passed, she told me that the worst part was thinking she would die alone in the hospital, without visitors or family. Expecting the worst, she pondered regrets about adventures she wanted to have during her life and places she wanted to see. “It seemed too scary to make such a big change because I was so content. But while lying in that hospital I was filled with regret and sadness for lost possibilities.”
Her words jolted me. I knew the Great Loop would be a big regret if I did not act. “It’s now or never,” I told myself. After a heart open talk with Glen, my husband, he surprised me with, “How come we waited so long? It’s now or never.”
Glen and I made plenty mistakes during our sailing circumnavigation. And I have no illusions that because we sailed around the world, all will go smoothly. Like navigating by sextant, there is much that can go awry. There will be a steep learning curve, occasional errors and bad days. In other words, an adventure. So come along on the Great Loop and be prepared for ups, downs, the good and the bad on our improbable 6,000 mile journey ahead.