Sad news

It was saddening today to learn, rather belatedly, of the passing of Ron Robinson a few months ago.
He had carried out work for me in repairing a good quality Kelvin Hughes sextant which had been vandalised by a postal courier and I later had no hesitation in asking for his assistance in getting the Sestral steering compass on Annabella back to working order. It is still the best compass on board.
I found him not to be an easy man to get to know although we only had brief dealings, but I think once he was confident that one wasn't a complete waste of time, he softened almost imperceptably
and there was trace of a sense of dry humour. Perhaps it was just me.

Another sextant by the way

"Robinson" was able to draw upon a wealth of expereince and knowledge in a field which is becoming incresingly arcane, and I really now do not know upon whom to call.
Life was much richer for knowing him, even briefly.

Freiberger Drum Sextant:

Excited joy on Friday as the new split horizon mirror and shades arrived from Frieberger.

As can be seen they are a slightly different shade of grey (!!)
The careful removal of the old and installation of the new took about 20 minutes and was very striaght forward, possibly because of the construction of the Freiberger itself.
***
I acquired the sextant nearly two years ago, as I wanted one with big mirrors to use on a small yacht in motion. It came with a full horizon glass, with which I never felt completley happy, but it took me about 6 months to extract the parts for a split horizon from the manufacturer. They insisted on a new set of shades also, but these looked to be the same size and shape as the originals, but heh-ho!
***
So first thing this morning, I drove up to some high ground with a good, distant horizon to adjust the new mirror. I couldn't resist taking a quick sight of the sun and pulling it down to the horizon - brilliantly easy!