Lunar Distance and Age of Sail Classes:
Fascinating classes taught by a fascinating and capable instructor.
Lunars class is challenging and fun. Frank presents several different recipes for accomplishing lunars, one of which seems almost easy (kind of). Highly recommended for anyone interested in celestial navigation or nautical navigation history.
Jeffrey Rock
FAA Designated Pilot Examiner
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:
Jeffrey Rock wrote: 8👍
John Carbone wrote: 5👍
Celestial Navigation Courses with Frank Reed ... As a formal naval officer navigator, navigator on Bermuda passages, and many celestial courses, I highly recommend Frank Reed in any course or program he teaches. I have taken his celestial courses at Mystic Seaport, online and followed his engaging web community (NavList.net). Every encounter has been different and educational. With his expertise and polished presentations, you will learn and understand the theory and practice celestial navigation. Frank is the consummate professor and someone not to be missed.
Doug MacPherson wrote: 23👍
I recently took online versions of Frank Reed's "Celestial Navigation in the Age of Sail", and "Lunars - Finding Longitude by Lunar Distances". I couldn't have been more happy with them. Having originally learned post WWII celestial methods as an officer in the United States Navy, and taken it up as a hobby, I was quite familiar with that era's procedures. However, I was intrigued by how they managed prior to then. Frank's two classes filled that void. His vast knowledge of the subject, both the technical aspects of the work as well as the historical significance were perfectly balanced. These are classes that can be thoroughly enjoyed by both the novice as well as the well versed practitioner. Recipe's for doing the work, the science behind those recipes, and actual voyages by the sailors that practiced the art were all presented with wonderful clarity. If "time sights", "cleared lunar distances" or "apparent time" have ever roused an interest, you owe it to yourself to take one of Frank's classes.
Doug MacPherson
Lieutenant, USN sep.
Doug MacPherson
Lieutenant, USN sep.
