Tony Crowley, a former merchant navy officer, learned to sail as a boy in Egypt using an abandoned seaplane float. He is the author of The Sailing Quiz Book and various magazine and journal articles, in Britain and the USA, on emergency and traditional navigation.

In an age when Global Positioning Systems, fluxgate compasses, radar and sonar depth sounders can interface with laptop computers, Tony Crowley's The Lo-Tech Navigator is a refreshing return to basics. Without oversimplifying, this book explains the principles behind how navigational instruments work.Readers learn how to construct equipment as simple as a compass using a dish of water and a tin can lid, or as complex as a working octant. The book explains sun navigation and the tools used to practice it. Would you believe an empty audiocassette case can function as your sextant or that you can use your finders to determine the exact points of a compass?Also included are interesting stories and quizzes that test your knowledge of boating, sailing and navigation.Filled with practical knowledge and ingenuity, The Lo-Tech Navigator is a great book to have in your ship's library.

• Introduction1. Three compasses for the price of one2. A sailing personality quiz3. Gone with the wind - a handheld anemometer4. Test your knowledge of the wind5. A tide table holder6. McGrath's revenge7. A tide abacus8. A fatal flaw9. A handy sun compass10. Rope trick11. A drogue log12. Singlehander--a protractor for knee top navigation13. The magic of 6 degrees14. Alcor--the mariner's eyesight test15. Spice jar navigation lights16. A ready-made heliograph17. A weekend sailor's logbook18. Four moorings and a fiasco19. Threefold puzzle20.A hand leadline21. Reading the sea22. Self-steering23. 191224. Sun navigation in a nutshell25. A mariner's quadrant26. The cross-staff27. A hi-tech back-staff28. Henry the octant29. Dire straits navigation30. The moon as your compass31. Survive!32. Killorain's treasure island33. A seafarer's sundial34. Latitude and longitude by compass35. Where the sky is blue36. The longitude game37. Polarum38. A trick with Kochab39. I want to be Captain40. Steering by the stars41. Plumb-line navigationAppendix 1. Tide abacus scaleAppendix 2. Almanac data for use with sundialAppendix 3. Vernier scalesAppendix 4. GHA Aries without an almanacReferences