“Navigation is a fundamental skill in sea kayaking, as for many other outdoor activities. For the sea kayaker, there are specific challenges faced and useful techniques. The increasing reliance on GPS and electronic devices, while reducing a level of anxiety, has also created a mental barrier between the environment and us. Long before Google Earth, GPS and Global Transit, humans have traveled long distances at sea using only environmental cues and simple instruments. This workshop will explore this world of primitive or traditional navigation: how ancient mariners from the Vikings to Arabic traders to Polynesian Islanders found their way on the ocean, and how these methods still apply to us as sea kayakers.”
John Huth is a longtime NSPN member who is also a professor of Physics at Harvard U. Over the years John has offered workshops to NSPN which have combined his skills as a lecturer and researcher of natural phenomena such as weather, and waves with his own experiences as a kayaker, which drew him to research the world of primitive navigation , and culminated in the publishing of his book The Lost Art Finding Our Way this past year .
