Celestaire Astra IIIB
I am posting these pic's because good Patron Frans made a comment with the latest Ep.95 video re. a "just in case" scenario 😁👌 I had been wanting EXACTLY this sextant for SO MANY years and had resolved all of those years ago that THIS was THE sextant that I would get,.... one day,........ and a brand new one! But I could not really afford one, what with so many other costs in building Mistress. I had been keeping my eye out, again over many years, on the prices and any new brands/models that may even be better buys, but alas the prices for these actually only ever went up and in my assessment, for the money nothing had or still really compared to these. I also was keeping my eye out on ebay over the years, but nothing came up. AND THEN, a BRAND NEW Astra IIIB came up on ebay, with the seller explaining (THE ALL TOO COMMON STORY) that he had had a dream to build a yacht and sail the World and had purchased many, many things for "his boat",....... but the boat after many years was only just started and would never see the water, never mind be finished. He was in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. And so he was selling everything that he could, to try and recoup at least a little of his outlays over the years. His story DID make me feel a little sad for him and was added to the MANY stories that I can distinctly remember hearing since I was a child up to recently, that all they wanted to do was build a boat and go sailing,..... It IS NOT EASY, life is not easy, to SOMEHOW, amongst ALL of the responsibilities over the years, earning enough money for everything and paying out the time and financial commitments for everything necessary, to actually find MORE time and money to realise such a Dream of building a boat to go sailing, to even go sail the World,..... This sextant was for sale by auction in 2017 but with a "buy now" price, I payed him this price immediately which was what he was wanting. This meant ~66% off the new price for me. I was, of course, DELIGHTED! It has NEVER been used and comes with the original certificate, as can be seen, but it WILL be used on Mistress, to help me navigate by the celestial bodies to find our position on this incredible oceanic globe that we all live on, as Mistress carries both of us and others aboard to new horizons,..... YES, I can hardly wait,.... ⛵