The first book ever sold by Good Old Boat magazine — call it the beginning of our Good Old Bookshelf — was the first edition of Illustrated Sail & Rig Tuning by Ivar Dedekam. Ivar, a Norwegian, ne...
Greg Smith set out in his sailboat to see the world. Those who choose to go along as readers of his book, The Solitude of the Open Sea, gain a fresh perspective of circumnavigating through the eyes of...
David O’ Neal is a funny guy. He’s written a sailors’ lexicon that will make any sailor laugh. I imagine him sitting with friends over glasses of wine while dreaming up crazy meaning...
Anyone who hopes to live aboard or cruise full time someday will want to talk to others who have already lived this dream. Lots of others . . .as many as possible . . . with all kinds of opinions. For...
Dan Smith became the de facto historian of the Allied Boat Company as the corresponding secretary of the Allied Seawind Owners’ Association. The cartons of documents which came with the job elev...
Jerry and I hope to transit the St. Lawrence within the decade ahead. When we do, he’ll be relying on my school-girl French to get us through Quebec. For my part, I’ll be relying on Kathy ...
BY JOHN MCVIE (WYMAN PUBLISHING, 2004; $12.99 U.S., $16.99 CANADA) REVIEWED BY KAREN LARSON John McVie, son of the internationally known photographer, Canadian Jim McVie, has just produced a calendar ...
This isn’t so much a review as an announcement and endorsement. After all, how does one review a cruising guide except by using it for extensive cruising. (Humm . . . that does sound like fun, t...
Small Boat to Freedom: A Journey of Conscience to a New Life in America is John Vigor’s tale of a wrenching lifestyle change made in 1987 at age 50. The South African government was crumbling as...
We’re taking our sailing vacation early this year. By the time you’re reading this newsletter, Jerry and I will be heading out across cold, cold Lake Superior in search of loon chicks and ...
First Aid at Sea is a handy reference that’s small enough to keep nearby for any emergency that might occur aboard. It’s lightweight and extremely easy to use with sturdy tabbed pages, bul...
The poetry of Michael Kahn’s photos takes your breath away. A latter-day Rosenfeld, Michael knows where the heart and passion of sailing are. He directs his lens there. And he captures a voluptu...
In telling his story, London Goes to Sea, Peter Baumgartner speaks for many sailors. There is no major drama — no sinkings, world-circling voyages, or perfect storms. Nevertheless there is minor dram...
John Vigor is the answer guy if you’re having onboard arguments about nautical terminology or the science of sailing in general. His new book, The Practical Encyclopedia of Boating: An A-Z Compe...
BY SHARON KRATZ (1ST BOOKS LIBRARY, 2004; 150 PAGES; $16.75) REVIEWED BY KAREN LARSON Jim and Dianne Carlin had all the time in the world to sail their Island Packet 38, September Song, around the wor...
There is a strange force within sailors which causes them to retreat to the water on boats when that water offers scant refuge, guaranteeing neither safety nor security. Author Thomas Froncek knows th...
A book like Chapman needs no introduction and no review. It’s an extraordinary reference book full of information useful to all sailors. It’s enough to say that a new edition was released ...
Reese Palley has gone around in the world long enough to develop character. He has followed his own course long enough to become a character. And he has gone around at sea long enough to qualify as a ...
Australian Jill Knight has written a number of articles for Good Old Boat and others about her sailing adventures and sailboat maintenance while cruising aboard Cooee, a 37-foot wooden cutter . . . a ...
I may have to hide Robert Smith’s books from my husband. While I enjoy visiting maritime museums, I’m not sure I enjoy visiting them with Jerry. He doesn’t do anything unless he can ...
Marianne Scott’s personal warmth and natural interest in others shines through her new book, Naturally Salty: Coastal Characters of the Pacific Northwest. In her work as a journalist, she has di...
Jack Lagan has written a delightful nautical dictionary (or sorts) best described in his own words as a ” loose-footed lexicon: a foot-loose, fancy-free and fore-and-aft alphabetic list of all t...
Paradise Cay has just released Chart No. 1: USA Nautical Chart Symbols Abbreviations and Terms as a replacement for the government version of Chart 1, which was discontinued by NOAA (The National Ocea...
Having Corinne Kanter’s latest cookbook, The Cruising KISS Cookbook II, aboard is like having a pocket expert you can take on your cruise. It’s a substitute for the cooking class you never...
Using GPS and a chart plotter for detailed navigation, I have become over-confident. Jerry and I refer to our boat’s system as “Nintendo navigation.” We can go to a small lump protru...
Lin and Larry Pardey will be the first (and certainly the most credible) sailors to tell you that you won’t encounter many storms at sea. They want to encourage cruisers to go now, not to contin...
BY MELISSA FISHER (MELISSA FISHER PUBLISHER, 2002; 94 PAGES; $14.95) REVIEWED BY KAREN LARSON Good Old Boat writer Melissa Fisher (Rudder Renewal, May 2001) has just developed a cruising cookbook of i...
Jack the Ripper in the 1880s. The sinking of the Lusitania during World War I. The British Royal Family. Modern day lovers enmeshed in a series of life-threatening events over which they have no contr...
John Kretschmer has just published a new book of interest to good old boaters, Used Boat Notebook, offering 40 reviews of good old boats which have been published in Sailing magazine over the past six...
One sailors’ lament might very well be “so many sailing books, so little time.” If time for reading them is not the issue, then space for storing them (particularly if you are cruisi...