Book Reviews

Everyone talks about the rules, but nobody does anything about them. If you’re about to head to sea and you haven’t memorized all the rules, lights, sound signals, and dayshapes, you may b...

“Do you really want to build that first metal boat . . . or buy a used one and repair it?” Roger McAfee gives the would-be first-time owner, boatbuilder, or repairer of a metal boat an ins...

Part of the joy of sailing is messing about with our boats — all those little improvements that make sailing and living aboard easier, safer, and more fun. Having read a number of books containi...

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” This is a famous Helen Keller quote and also the “why” behind George Hone’s story of how he and two other men in a ...

“I enjoy adventure and new experiences on a sailboat in the Caribbean.” This mantra, or variations on it, are what keep the author going in this frank but funny recounting of a neophyte sa...

Is it cynical to place yourself voluntarily in the position of desperate men whose only thought was of reaching home safely?” An interesting question. Author Arved Fuchs asks this question sever...

This concise book generously explains the background of weather in a surprisingly compact format. Although not specifically aimed at boating, its coverage is more than adequate for those who venture o...

Between the summer of 1968 and the summer of 1969, while the first men orbited and landed on the moon, nine other men set out in nine ill-equipped little boats, determined to be the first to sail alon...

The perceived value of a thing changes as the technology to make it smoother and shinier changes. The author’s comparison of a hand-thrown coffee mug with a new plastic one is an example of stre...

Jeff Toghill has combined a lifetime of worldwide sailing (being an administrator and instructor at sailing and navigation schools) and vast experience as a maritime legal consultant to produce a comp...

I miss Patrick O’Brian. For years, I would find the latest book in his Aubrey/ Maturin series neatly wrapped as only my wife, Jane, can do. I have now read them all because he is not here to wri...

Ordinarily, I would not get too excited about another new cruising book, even one by as eminent an author as Nigel Calder, whose previous work, Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual, has ...

Lin and Larry Pardey did not set out deliberately to circumnavigate the world twice, nor to become a pair of well-known and authoritative authors of books and articles on sailing, nor to live aboard, ...

Now you can leave most of your other books on seamanship at home, perhaps even the dog-eared, lop-spined old Chapmans that takes most of your bulkhead bookshelf. Steve and Linda Dashew’s Practic...

Big water doesn’t have to be salty to be worthy of respect. The Great Lakes are pretty big, and Lake Superior is the biggest and definitely the baddest. Marlin Bree was cruising Superior in the ...

For many of us, sailing is an introspective activity. This is certainly true for Ron Dwelle. In this book, Ron tells of cruising for 20 years on lakes Michigan and Huron . . . meandering from port to ...

With this new book, author Susan Sternkopf and illustrator Glenn Halak teach children (and their adult friends) the facts of life. But wait! This colorful book is not about reproduction – it&#82...

“We went sailing not to escape from life but to keep life from escaping us.” These opening words in Frank Papy’s latest edition of his Cruising Guide to the Florida Keys, with an acc...

The loss of the schooner Fantome, in which 31 people died, is a tragedy that has become painted with passion and prejudice. It is hard to imagine that a book could be written that would not fall into ...

The dory fishing schooner, Adventure, was well named, for she had many. The book begins with the description of one that was a bit too scary. The “Old Lady,” in her 22nd year, was 50 miles...

I clearly recall the occasion that triggered my love of wooden boats. It was 1967, a time before locks and “No Admittance” signs. I was 13 years old, and the place was Seth Persson’s...

Steve Sleight, previously involved in creating another sailing manual, Bob Bond’s Handbook of Sailing, has now created his own version of a sailor’s how-to guide with his Complete Sailing ...

Several years ago I circumnavigated Vancouver Island. An experienced friend urged me to cancel the trip: “Stay inside, behind the island,” he admonished. “Inside, you might lose your...

Not until a year ago did I see the manuscript, yellowed and frayed, that had been forgotten in Dick Langford’s office for 30 years. I cried when I read it then and cried again recently when I tu...

When Creative Ropecraft was first published in 1975, there was limited written material on the subject. During the next 25 years, an awareness of the possibilities for intricate, but functional, ropew...

There used to be a bumper sticker, popular in marinas, that said “Old Sailors Never Die, They Just Go a Little Dinghy.” The premise of this book is that they should go cruising offshore. T...