The Barefoot Navigator introduces the navigation skills of the ancients--methods using the sun, sea, wind, and stars, and even the flight patterns of ocean birds. The Barefoot Navigator also shows today''s sailors how to apply these methods to augment--and in the case of emergency, replace-their modern navigation systems.And it not just for emergencies--sometimes it is just plain fun to create a simple astrolabe or polar stick and confirm what your GPS tells you. Polynesians managed to populate an area of ocean larger than North America simply by analyzing clouds, currents, and wind direction--how did they do it? In the first portion of The Barefoot Navigator Lagan introduces these ancient seafarers and their powerful, accurate--and seemingly simple--navigation techniquesWe also learn that the Vikings routinely traveled on the notorious stretches of water between Iceland, Greenland, and Scandinavia--no charts, no GPS; it seems mind-boggling but Lagan shows us how. The second section of