I don't know that they had any particular skills other than the triangular sails.
And of course you know this because you read one book right?
They took elevation with their hands (ie no astrolabe) and didn't have anything like the kind of incredibly detailed system of star navigation that the Polynesians do.
Um the Arabs INVENTED the astrolabe. As for the detailed navigation system .. lol are u serious? The Arabs were the astrology leaders of the world. Astronomers traveled from around the world to learn astronomy from the Arabs.
Polynesians could - and in fact still can - sail from Hawaii to New Zealand without a compass, which is like finding half a needle in an extremely large haystack. Arabs mostly stuck to the coasts.
"Arabs had explored, and written of, the far reaches of
the known world. They had been around the perimeter of Africa and sailed as far as India. They had ventured overland beyond Constantinople, past Asia Minor, across Egypt and Syria--then the western marches of the unknown Orient--and into the heart of the Asian continent. They had mapped the terrain, traced the course of rivers, timed the monsoons, scaled mountains, charted shoals and reached China"
They also sailed boats that had been stitched together with coconut fibers, because nails were too expensive, so I think we can add tremendous bravery to the list.
So the fact that Arabs had sturdier boats and had better means of developing thier main source of transportation means that they arent as brave?
navigation system is pretty clearly something the Polynesians invented while sailing around the Pacific.
"A navigational tool was already in use by Arab navigators called a kamal. The kamal was a square table which had a string with knots threaded through it. Each knot represented a different port. The navigator would select the port he was trying to reach, and hold the knot in his teeth to tighten the string, while he he held the table to his eye. Latitude was found when the horizon was at the lower edge of the table and the Pole Star at the upper edge."
So the Arabs didnt just stare into the sky to navigate as you seem to believe.
Im not saying that the polynesians arent excellent sailors. Im just trying to show that a person shouldnt start making assumptions about something they know nothing about.
