Best Sailing
A Voyage for Madmen is a tale of sailors driven by their own dreams and demons, of horrific storms in the Southern Ocean, and of those riveting moments when a split-second decision means the difference between life and death. He expertly tells their individual stories in great detail: why they entered the race, what they had staked on winning, and their struggles at sea. Readers will eagerly turn the pages to discover how some were defeated by the ocean or the race's harsh rules and the lengths to which one contestant went to be declared the winner.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"At a time when navigational technology was minimally advanced and accurate, particularly for the novice, only adequate, intense, and proper training could increase the odds of long distant sailing success."
"In today's world of professional sports and sponsorship, of satnav and Gps, it's difficult to believe the rudimentary nature of this challenge - to sail around the world without stopping - and the near naïve willingness of its participants to try on a whim."
"I read this book on the recommendation that it was one of the best books they had ever read."
"Mr. Nichols did an excellent job of writing about this incredible race and the driven men who challenged it."
"I first saw a thrilling documentary Deep Water on Donald Crowhurst ill fated participation in the first solo yacht race around the World in 1968. Early in the book, Nichols refers to Anderson's "The Ulysses Factor" that Nichols describes as: "... the lone hero figure in society... who by his exploits stimulates powerful mass excitement... [This drive towards solo heroic feat] is a genetic instinct in all of us, but dormant in most. Nichols referring to their surprising lack of experience stated: "They were not sportsmen or racing yachtsmen... These included Crowhurst, a mediocre weekend sailor, who entered the race for the publicity it would bring his radio navigation device and his failing company. When starting the race, he was lead by a friend in another boat who just told him to follow and imitate him for the first few miles to get the hang of it. In his first storm, Blyth lost complete control of his boat and states: "I turned to one of my sailing manuals to see what advice it contained for me. Moitessier thought his boat "Joshua" may be disastrous in the rough waters around Cape Horn. And, Crowhurst who did raise the funds to develop a fast boat copied Tetley's "Victress" flawed trimaran design. He had an intellectual drive and loaded his boat with tons of reading material such as textbooks in economics and calculus, and large tomes such as "War and Peace." The chronic gale storms in the Southern Ocean causing sleep deprivation and having to frequently repair the hull of his boat in 50 degree water used all the reserves he could muster. But, given his financial bets (his sponsor would own his business and home if he did not finish the race) he plows forward. Later, Crowhurst communicated false position coordinates to claim a speed record of 243 miles per day. Sir Francis Chichester, who sailed around the world while stopping once, immediately expressed skepticism. The maintaining of the fraudulent logs, a demanding mathematical task, contributed to Crowhurst descent into madness. He had so many sartori like moments including being escorted by a school of porpoises and later seeing the night lights of the aurora australis. Later, when he is sure to finish in record time and earn the first prize of 5,000 pounds; he abruptly decides to continue halfway around the World ultimately to shore in Tahiti instead of landing back in England. Just two years after the race, Blyth will successfully sail around the world the "wrong way" handling all the prevailing winds and currents in the more challenging way."
"I love true-life survival-type books, and I would put this in that category, sort of."
"Interesting read for novice sailors, maybe for more experienced as well - tells some of the trials and tribulations of long voyage sailing before it was commonly done, and the author provides a very good background/setup for the narrative part of the facts."
Featuring 1,500 color photos, this updated edition covers new technologies, maritime laws and regulations, safety tips, and maintenance, as well as complete discussions of weather, tides, currents, and navigation. Jonathan Eaton developed, edited, and published some 400 boating books through the course of his career as editor and publisher of McGraw-Hill's International Marine imprint of boating books.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Glorious book."
"The Bible for Sailors..My father had same back in the early 1950s..."
"Great product for a reasonable price."
"Excellent educational aid and reference source."
"The boating bible."
"Absolutely perfect and brand new as advertised."
"If you are a serious captain of a boat, then there is a lot of information that you should know for the sake of the safety of you, your crew and passengers and other people on the water. Simply put, if you are doing anything more than using a small watercraft on local waters, this book contains all of the information that you should, and need to know."
"Chapman was the required text book for my captain's license class."
“The art of sailing, maneuvering, and preserving a ship or a boat in all positions and under all reasonable circumstances.” With the addition of the words, “and some unreasonable circumstances, too,” this definition of “seamanship” is as valid today as when the first edition of this book was published in 1983. Throughout, the book stresses the skills and attitudes that comprise what the author calls “The Seamanship Ethos.” The first four chapters cover the boat, basic sailing skills, sail trim, and weather, with the first of many “Hands On” sections with their tips. The aim for 30 years has been to advise you the sailor on essential gear, skills, and attitudes that will enhance your pleasure and safety wherever you sail, in whichever boat you sail. The chapters on the boat, sails, rigging, and heavy weather include many new developments in gear and in methods, but the sections that have undergone the most change are the ones on electronic instruments and on safety. This was a significant four days of testing a vast range of safety equipment and methods used in cruising and racing monohulls and multihulls, and in powerboats. Later, when safety concerns turned to sailing dinghies and other small boats, I participated in and wrote the report for tests of sailor retrieval, capsize recovery, and entrapment hold on Long Island Sound in 2012. Sailing, Cruising and Seamanship seminars sponsored by North U (the educational arm of North Sails), and Suddenly Alone and other yacht club safety training events. I sailed in the stormy 1979 Fastnet Race and wrote a book, Fastnet, Force 10 , about it. More recently there have been highly detailed reports of inquiries into seven accidents: the fatal grounding of PriceWaterhouseCoopers off Australia (2009); the fatal capsize of a 420 dinghy at Annapolis, Md. (2011); the fatal capsize of WingNuts in a race on Lake Michigan (2011); the capsize of Rambler 100 off Ireland (2011); the fatal grounding of Low Speed Chase off San Francisco (2012); the fatal grounding of Aegean off San Diego (2012); and the evacuation of a sailor from Seabiscuit during the Newport Bermuda Race (2012).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I can see why this is the first choice for beginners."
"A lot of really good information in a modestly lengthed book."
"Beautiful book with loads of information for the new sailor."
"Good book for new and old sailors."
"Every boater should own this."
"Its is the Bible of Seamanship."
Best Sailing Excursion Guides
"Simply put, every local boater should have a dog-eared, well-thumbed copy [of this guide] as a permanent feature in the nautical library. A Cruising Guide to Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands has earned an outstanding reputation for the accuracy of its piloting instructions, the clarity of its writing, and the high quality of its information. Approaches and anchorages for hundreds of bays, harbors, and inlets―many with annotated charts Weather, tides, currents, and commercial traffic patterns Local history and attractions 240 full-color photos 75 color chartlets Larger size and lay-flat binding for ease of use. For even those few boaters who think they know all Puget Sound has to offer, this invaluable reference guide will introduce them to hundreds of new places yet to explore. "An encyclopedic sailing guide to area waters, written with exhaustive first-hand research to almost every cove and inlet, and complemented with a remarkable series of maps, charts, and pictures. "A monumental book that gives minute details on every bay, waterway, and stretch of navigable salt water from Olympia to Port Angeles, including the San Juan Islands. A Cruising Guide to Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands has earned an outstanding reputation for the accuracy of its piloting instructions, the clarity of its writing, and the high quality of its information. Approaches and anchorages for hundreds of bays, harbors, and inlets―many with annotated charts Weather, tides, currents, and commercial traffic patterns Local history and attractions 240 full-color photos 75 color chartlets Larger size and lay-flat binding for ease of use. For even those few boaters who think they know all Puget Sound has to offer, this invaluable reference guide will introduce them to hundreds of new places yet to explore. "An encyclopedic sailing guide to area waters, written with exhaustive first-hand research to almost every cove and inlet, and complemented with a remarkable series of maps, charts, and pictures.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Cruising up there can be very complex....considering ship traffic, reefs that are close to the water surface, floating logs that can separate an outdrive from the boat in a nanosecond, and private or shallow areas that it is a good idea to stay away from."
"A must have for cruising down sound or in the San Juan Islands."
"We constantly use this book for boating in the puget sound."
"the wire coil back is a pain to deal with."
"We've been sailing in the San Juans for over 30 years and still found this book helpful."
"The spiral binding is very nice which allows the pages to lay flat and the heavy cover tucks acound them when the book is closed to protect the page edges - a great touch. I expect this will be a book we will really use this season."
"Great book for cruising the Sound."
"The Waggoner book that was in our charter boat was much better but our favorite was San Juan Islands Cruise Guide: A Boaters Handbook for Camping the San Juan's and Surrounding Area by Cummins."
Best Instructional Sailing
Evaluate the condition of your boat or one you’re about to purchase Repair structural damage to your fiberglass sailboat Improve or repair your sailboat’s electrical system Troubleshoot, maintain, and repair your boat’s diesel engine Put a professional-looking finish on your boat’s hull, deck, spars, wood, and trim Make and repair sails, sail covers, dodgers, awnings, sailbags, and bimini tops. Don Casey’s Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual combines six core volumes into a single, utterly dependable resource that answers every frequent question, explains every major system, and helps you keep your boat and its components shipshape. Evaluate the condition of your boat or one you’re about to purchase Repair structural damage to your fiberglass sailboat Improve or repair your sailboat’s electrical system Troubleshoot, maintain, and repair your boat’s diesel engine Put a professional-looking finish on your boat’s hull, deck, spars, wood, and trim Make and repair sails, sail covers, dodgers, awnings, sailbags, and bimini tops.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Casey certainly explains and shows through copious illustrations, how fiberglass repairs - even "major" ones - can be done by the DIYer with some degree of aptitude."
"This is a very good book on how to maintain, repair and assess the various systems on a sailboat."
"Oh I love this book, so many different project ideas it gives me and ways I can check on stuff, currently having a problem with the tach and this at least shows me how one works which I never quite paid attention to so hopefully I'll be able to fix it."
"Excellent and has a great amount of variety and much needed information."
"Fantastic book for anyone, in this case my son, who has a sailboat and is doing the maintenance himself."
"This book is a reference book and doesn't spend a lot of time on any one subject. Update (2 weeks later): I've had a chance to look closer at this book and I just reduced my opinion of this book from 5 Stars to 4 Stars. But if you need to know exact numbers on how much electricity that you are pulling and how much you need (And you have been out of school as long as I have been), I would suggest ordering an additional book on boat electronics."
"Please this before you buy a used sailboat."
"I can see how you can use these articles to fix things that Don points out that you may have missed previously, but I wish I would have read this book before I bought my boat, not after."
Best Sailing Narratives
Known to millions of readers of The Perfect Storm as the captain of the Hannah Boden , sister ship to the Andrea Gail , Linda Greenlaw is also known as one of the best sea captains on the East Coast. -- Douglas Whynott, The New York Times Book Review. The term fisherwoman does not exactly roll trippingly off the tongue, and Linda Greenlaw, the world's only female swordfish boat captain, isn't flattered when people insist on calling her one. The Hungry Ocean , Greenlaw's account of a monthlong swordfishing trip over 1,000 nautical miles out to sea, tells the story of what happens when things go right--proving, in the process, that every successful voyage is a study in narrowly averted disaster. Greenlaw's straightforward, uncluttered prose underscores the qualities that make her a good captain, regardless of gender: fairness, physical and mental endurance, obsessive attention to detail.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If one is interested in fishing and the challenges of that profession, this is the book."
"Another great book by a great author and lobster boat skipper."
"Love Linda Greenlaw's story of the long line swordfishing."
"Very good."
"Ms. Greenlaw is a great writer and has plenty of interesting tales."
"Fascinating account of deep sea fishing- battling boredom one minute, killer weather the next..."
"It was a fictionalized account of actual events surrounding the loss of the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing vessel lost at sea with all of its crew during a horrific storm in 1991. One of the characters in that story, Linda Greenlaw, captain of the Andrea Gail's sister ship, the Hannah Boden, has written a fascinating tale of life aboard a swordboat--minus the tragedy. To most of us, the concept of spending a month or more at sea in smelly, cramped quarters, working torturous 20-hour days and MAYBE getting a paycheck to show for it, (depending on how good the catch is), hardly seems worth the effort."
"I love fishing, she goes over every aspect of a trip."
Best Sailing Navigation
- The latest developments in outboard motors and inboard vectored thrust propulsion systems, including joystick controls - New mayday procedures. - Cutting edge technology: VHF/DSC radio; Rescue 21 coastal communication system; networking electronic devices; features and capabilities of GPS, radar, depth sounder, fish finders, and chartplotters; eLoran system; autopilot; NMEA 2000 and more. He is a former Chairman and President of the Chris Craft Boat Company.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Even today, you can see the family resemblance between the Coast Guard Boat Crew Manual and Chapman."
"But to have two full chapters on these subjects, plus dozens more, at the level of detail that it does, is a testament to the exhaustive research that went into this book. If you're a sailor or a power boater or a fisherman or just have a deep love and respect for the water, don't go out to eat tonight and buy this book instead."
"An absolute must-have volume for every sailor, whether a novice or professional skipper."
"It's Chapman Piloting and Seamanship."
"A must have for every serious boater!"
"Great book full of great information and diagrams where needed."
"Some great rules/regs, some great newbie boat-handling tips, but it seems to get bogged-down in high-detail on some things (like compass compensation) while quickly overviewing other topics (like VHF/DSCC) that could use more detail (like how to call for radio-checks, how to use DSCC, how to use AIS)."
Best Sailing
If you are not rich, but dream of seeing our beautiful world from the deck of your own boat, this book is packed full of practical and spiritual advice to help you cut through the endless marketing and identify what it is you truly need to become a modern sea gypsy and sail away on the greatest adventure of your life…. He became a RYA qualified skipper in 2008 and has lived aboard every day since 2007 when he bought his first boat Marutji – a steel Van de Stadt 34 (pictured on the cover).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Interesting take on considerations made for affordable and comfortable sailboat cruising."
"Reading this book will no doubt prevent many bad purchases or decisions."
"Incredibly brilliant book."
"Even if sailing is not your bailiwick the book is applicable anyone looking for inspiration and advice on how to move forward with experiencing life vice a job."
"Though a little over the top in the beginning, bashing corporate everything, the book settled in to very good and strong information."
"This book is similar to the Fatty Goodlander book "Buy, Outfit, and Sail" but rather than more of the same it was a good complement to the Goodlander book."
"It is amazingly written, full of real info, and extremely funny."
"I think this book has had a bigger impact on my state of mind than books about how to change your state of mind."
Best Boat & Ship Calendars
The award-winning Calendar of Wooden Boats®, with photography by Benjamin Mendlowitz and commentary by marine historian Maynard Bray, is elegantly designed in a 12"x 24" open wall format. Benjamin Mendlowitz has devoted his life to capturing the magic of wooden boats in color photography.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I love wood boats and it is a pleasure to have these exquisite photographs to look at."
"Always beautiful photographs of some of the prettiest boats in the world."
"Buy this calendar every year for my husband."
"The best, Been buying for over 20 years,"
"The Wooden Boats calendar has been a must every year, however, I am disappointed in the 2018 year selections of pictures."
"We use these calendars as holiday gifts and prizes at gatherings; always appreciated."
Best Boat Building
This revised edition of Building a Strip Canoe includes full-sized plans for 8 well-proven canoe designs, most of which are the author's own adaptations.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"He is so busy though, I don't know when he will ever have time to start this project but he is happy and that makes me happy."
"His extensive practical experience working with people building these canoes as well as his love of using this equipment in his home state come through."
"It also shows some crude methods of face screwing strips to the molds where a tacked 18 gauge brad and/or a t50 staple would have done the job."
"As a novice boatbuilder I really wanted basic, good information about this technique."
"I have always wanted to build a cedar strip canoe."
"I find this book fascinating to read...It is detailed about the process of building a strip canoe and it offers several prints of different size molds for construction.This way you don't have to loft anything for them."
"This is second time I have purchased this book."
"Very informative and he breaks things down as we say in the military " Barney style"."
Best Cyclades Travel Guides
When journalist Marilynn Preston started her fitness column in Chicago in 1976, most people thought yoga and yogurt were interchangeable terms and the mind-body connection was another name for the neck. "I can inform, inspire, educate, amuse, cajole, and otherwise cheer you on, but when push comes to shove-two excellent ways to burn 100 calories-you're in charge of your own personal well-being. From eating clean to going green, from losing weight to adding muscle, from living longer to dying more easily, Marilynn links body and mind to culture and politics. In her long-running weekly syndicated column "Energy Express," and now in her third book, All is Well, Marilynn offers readers a welcoming evidence-based path to more joy, greater health, and sustained happiness-three essentials of a healthy lifestyle. Marilynn is an ACE-certified fitness trainer and certified Wellcoach, and she has written two other books, “Dear Dr. Jock: The People's Guide to Sports and Fitness” and “Work Well, Be Well.” She created, exec produced and co-wrote the nationally syndicated “Energy Express” TV series about sports, fitness, and adventure for kids and families. More than 20 years later, she still works as a relentless board member, helping girls get the healthy lifestyle training they need to become strong, confident, powerful women.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a wonderful book! This makes it a companion book for anyone. A perfect combination of ageless wisdom served up for our fast-paced high tech world."
"Her delicious sense of humor makes delicate subjects like your doctor's total ignorance of diet and exercise, and how to begin an end-of-life conversation clear and compelling."
"A delightful, playful way to get across great ideas for a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life."
"(Even an indoor plant finds herself. buying a serious pair of walking shoes."
"I had hoped to find deep insight and words of wisdom that come from living an artful life of mindfulness and honesty, but unfortunately, what she has given us is a series of simple homilies - the icing and not the cake."
"This was an easy read with a lot of wonderful reminders and suggestions."
"With wisdom and compassion Preston speaks from her many years of knowledge and experience in the health and well-being world."
"I love this book because I know the author actually practices what she writes about."
Best Antigua & Barbuda Travel Guides
The Antigua & Barbuda Island Guide provides insightful information that allows visitors to feel like locals while enjoying the indisputable beauty of this Caribbean nation. GAIN INSIGHT – Behind those long stretches of white sand beach and turquoise colored water is a vibrant culture all its own.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"We used this book along with "Rough Guide Directions Antigua and Barbuda" by Adam Vaitilingam, between the two books, they formed a fairly comprehensive guide to the country, it's history, how things work from Taxi's and other public transportation, the airport, the roads and rental cars, etc... I was truly amazed at how few of the guests at our resort had rental cars (me and 4 others) everyone else either stayed on the resort property or just took the organized tours, if you're going to do this, you don't need the books."
"Should have looked at when this was published, a little out of date, but still a good deal of good onformation and well written."
"Unfortunately, I was interested in the history of these islands and I could not find enough information."
"This book was somewhat helpful but was dated."
"just got back, this is a great small book to take with you!"
"Very informative travel book."
"It was a poor choice for a gift."
"Not very helpful and out of date."