Navigating using your watch
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Don't quote me on this but I have a vague recollection that you point the hour hand at the sun and the the midpoint between the hour hand and 12 points to north (can't remember which north, probably true north). This is for the northern hemisphere.
If you only have digital time on a phone, gps, or digital watch you can draw an analogue watch on paper, in sand, mud etc. and use it in the same way.
If you only have digital time on a phone, gps, or digital watch you can draw an analogue watch on paper, in sand, mud etc. and use it in the same way.
Whittler Kev
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Are you sure it dosen't show you where South is in the Northern Hemisphere?
http://www.ehow.com/how_5240606_navigate-using-watch-compass.html
or maybe this is better
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/chp18.php
http://www.ehow.com/how_5240606_navigate-using-watch-compass.html
or maybe this is better
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/chp18.php
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I stand corrected. As I say I only had a vague memory of reading it somewhere. That will save me from getting lost now I know the correct version. Although hopefully if I needed to use this technique then hopefully alarm bells would have started ringing when I was looking at the sun and my memory was giving north 180 degrees out. Fingers crossed.
One of the other joyous coincidences is that a hand span at arms length equates to the what the Sun will track in an hour so if you have a compass you can work out the time etc. Or if you know the time you can find South by using handspans. Not mega accuarate and not sure if GMT / BST is an issue. Will look it up in my natural navigation book.
Also thought of putting notches on my digital watch surround for nav purposes but thought it a bit keen!
Also thought of putting notches on my digital watch surround for nav purposes but thought it a bit keen!
Come on lazy bones....... Bet youve googled that by now?
but what if you haven't got a stick......................?
Just to put mt ten pence worth in, navigating at night is relatively simple aswel, to find the north star you first need to locate the Big Dipper, this is part of a bigger constallation also known as the Big Bear. I dont know how to post pics here so just google 'Big Dipper' in images, its pretty easy to spot in the sky once you know the shape as it stands out quite a bit. It looks a bit like a wheel barrow, or a pot with handle. Any way, if you join the end two stars of the big dipper ( at the pot end) with a straight line and follow this line through you will end up at the north star.
Some people will say that to find the north star just look for the brightest star in the sky, this is misleading because it isnt actually that bright, instead it is surround by dull stars giving the appearance of being very bright.
Some people will say that to find the north star just look for the brightest star in the sky, this is misleading because it isnt actually that bright, instead it is surround by dull stars giving the appearance of being very bright.
Bisecting the angle between the hour hand (pointed at the sun) and 12 will give you south in the northern hemishere, as has been stated above. The only thing to be slightly careful of is local time. If you are on the grenwich meridian, then use GMT, even in summer. If you are in cornwall or the west of Ireland for example , you will have to compensate slightly - even though you are in the same political time zone, you are not in the same natural time zone. Not a massive difference, but worth noting.
Dom.
Dom.
forestwalker
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
The accuracy of this method is compromised by a few things, mostly by the fact that your watch shows a time of the timezone you are in, not the local solar time[1]. And don't forget daylight saving time!
[1] Imagine travel before this standardization; I have seen old train station signs with local time in relation to Stockholm)
[1] Imagine travel before this standardization; I have seen old train station signs with local time in relation to Stockholm)
IIRC it was only in Victorian times in England that time zones were standardised across a region instead of following local solar time. I think it was railway timetabling that drove the change - funny how these things happen...
Guys I hate to really complicate things, but it ain't that simple, both the time of year and your latitude have an effect on this. The only thing that you can say for certain is that at midday (12 noon) if in the northern hemisphere when facing the sun you are looking due south and as has previously been stated that's without daylight saving being taken into account. This method also get's more inaccurate the closer to the poles that you get.
One of the reasons is due to the earth's orbit and that we have tropics. The earth's axis moves in relation to the sun throughout the year from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south. This effects the angle at which you view the sun over the curvature of the earths crust.
There are some relatively detailed charts in Harold Gatty's book "finding your way without a map or compass." ISBN 13:978-0-486-40613-8 or ISBN 10:0-486-40613-x
For anyone who wishes to learn natural navigation I would suggest reading it.
One of the reasons is due to the earth's orbit and that we have tropics. The earth's axis moves in relation to the sun throughout the year from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south. This effects the angle at which you view the sun over the curvature of the earths crust.
There are some relatively detailed charts in Harold Gatty's book "finding your way without a map or compass." ISBN 13:978-0-486-40613-8 or ISBN 10:0-486-40613-x
For anyone who wishes to learn natural navigation I would suggest reading it.
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