Compass opens with a cautionary tale of a modern mega-yacht nearly coming to grief because of the builder’s (and the owner’s) over-reliance on state-of-the-art electronic navigation. When ...
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...
BY OMAR REIS (CELESTAIRE.COM; $59.95) REVIEWED BY DURKEE RICHARDS Celestial navigation is alive and well even in the age of affordable GPS chart plotters. With his recent release of version 4.2 of Nav...
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...
Windvanes hang like medals from the stern, a hallmark of many a long-range cruiser. While walking the docks, we see them hanging proudly on boats’sterns. We wonder about the stories the crew cou...
Tinkering WW II veterans and refined husband-and-wife teams dominate the literature of cruising’s post-war golden age. These pioneers proved that small boats could safely cross oceans, serve as ...
BY ROBERT TOWNSEND, (ODYSSEY PUBLISHING, 2002;186 PAGES; $22.95) REVIEWED BY SUSAN PETERSON While the romance of Mother Ocean is undeniable, much modern-day yachting takes place on freshwater. Of the...
William Longyard’s introduction to A Speck on the Sea begins with the question, “Why would anyone cross an ocean in a small boat?” In the following 375 pages, he presents more than 1...
This is a book on surveying, and is well written. I advise every boatowner to read it. The author elucidates what it is that surveyors do, and every boater needs to understand the survey process. Who?...
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...
High Latitude, North Atlantic briefly chronicles the discovery, settlement, anthropology, and history of the barren lands from north of Alaska across the Canadian Arctic and the Atlantic to northern S...
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...
With his newer book, Surveying Fiberglass Boats, David Pascoe shows that he is a clear writer but seems to lack Allan Vaitses’ brilliance at this business, both in terms of the vessels and the p...
In December, 1872, the British ship HMS Challenger left Portsmouth, England on a voyage that would last until May, 1876, cover 68,900 miles, and add volumes to the already growing body of knowledge of...
If you have ever tried to disassemble a winch, fix your steering system, repair a galley pump, or rebuild your head, the chances are that you have been frustrated more than once. Charlie Wing’s ...
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 ...
In the hands of most other authors, this might be a presumptuous title. Yet Hal Roth’s latest offering distills years of voyaging and many thousands of sea miles into a clear, no-nonsense discu...
What a handsome book this one is! Glossy paper, attractive page composition, nice diagrams, and some splendid photographs: gleaming varnish and brass on a classic wooden yacht and a stunning view of a...
Maybe you’ve repaired a sail? Perhaps even while underway. But have you repaired a sail while aloft in a bosun’s chair? Not just slapped sticky-back tape on the sail, but sewed it with nee...
Eddie Jones – devout sailor, veteran columnist, computer guru – is a very funny guy. He also has a reservoir of wisdom that has little to do with learning and lots to do with living. ̶...
You don’t have to look very far in your local marina to find someone with an on-board odor problem. In fact, sometimes it seems that those with the worst problems have a knack for finding you. ...
If I were new to GPS and wanted to learn the subject in the slickest and most efficient way possible, finding this book would be like coming down on Christmas morning to find that Santa had left absol...
“Breaker, breaker . . . 10-4 Good Buddy.” Is this how you use your VHF radio? Or have you just bought a new VHF radio and are trying to figure out what the PTT button is? If so, this book ...
