James Baldwin needs no introduction to most sailors. He’s the guy who went twice around in a modified Pearson Triton and now makes wonderful modifications to other people’s boats from a ho...
… I realized with a pang of joy that in spite of all that has changed in the world … that a boat can still take you to places that have remained virtually untouched. – Jimmy Cornell Jimmy Cornel...
With two novels now wrapped inside one big cover, Rob Smith makes a gigantic statement in the fascinating game of “What If?” The scenario in his two Shrader Marks books, Night Voices and Keelhouse, no...
In the mid-1970s the world changed forever as we, the general public, were made aware of just how fragile our way of life is during the first oil shortage. Those of us who are old enough can remember ...
The Freakin’ Old Guys (FOGs for short, and that first word isn’t the one they use) are a group of older sailors doing a messabout in the San Juan Islands. There is Gibson Stanford, known as Gib, retir...
The Latest News from Purgatory Cove is a collection of 40 two- to three-page-long “letters” from the fictional Purgatory Cove Fish Dock & Marina. Readers familiar with Garrison Keillor might find ...
There’s an old adage among pilots: “Those who have and those who will,” meaning that sooner or later, every pilot will come close to landing an airplane without extending the landing gear. Similarly, ...
The Limbus of the Moon is a novel in the mold of a Dan Brown thriller, or at least it tries to be. Viator venenatusis a sea urchin, very rare, incredibly valuable, and possibly the source of life-savi...
As a kid I was kind of a klutz. In fact, I can still hear my buddy Chuck calling out to me from second after yet another strikeout, “Wayne, I’ve never seen anyone as uncoordinated as you!” Almost 50 y...
The subtitle, Refitting Used Sailboats for Blue-Water Voyaging, of Peter Berman’s new book, Outfitting the Offshore Cruising Sailboat, tells why it’s an important new reference for good old boaters. P...
Lesson Plans Ahoy! is an excellent educational guide for cruising families. Author Nadine Slavinski is a teacher, a parent, and a sailor, and has capitalized on her knowledge in each of those roles in...
Steve Henkel collected information for decades before compiling this fascinating compendium on fiberglass cruising sailboats sold in the U.S. Nearly all of the boats get a full page, with roughly half...
In his electronic book, Here We Are, Jim Carrier, author of several books including the well-received The Ship and the Storm about the 1998 loss of Windjammer Cruises’ 282-foot schooner Fantome to Hur...
This book by Charles and Corinne Kanter, the daring duo of the title, is the ninth they have written about their lives (married 54 years!) spent mostly sailing in mostly catamarans, along the East Coa...
Herb McCormick and I wrote our first books together, after hours, banging away at IBM Selectric typewriters on the second floor of the old Cruising World offices in downtown Newport, Rhode Island. He ...
Stone Boat Odyssey by Ralph and Phyllis Nansen is a follow-your-dream story many sailors will relate to. In the mid-1960s, Ralph and Phyllis were a successful Pacific Northwest couple in their 30s who...
We recently received a large (28 x 36-inch) wall map featuring the shipwrecks off the coast of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Suffice it to say that over the years there have b...
After going through this book, almost page by page, I have decided that a much better name for it would have been the “Mariner’s Encyclopedia.” Its 544 well-illustrated pages are, truly, that complete...
BY NICHOLAS COGHLAN (UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA PRESS, 2011; 496 PAGES, 4 MAPS, 48 PHOTOGRAPHS; $34.95) REVIEW BY CHAS. HAGUE DES PLAINES, ILLINOIS In 1978, newly graduated Nicholas Coghlan and his girlfri...
As the old saying goes, variety is the spice of life. That’s why I try to listen to different types of music and eat different types of foods. But I definitely have my favorites: listening to classic ...
In 1978, newly graduated Nicholas Coghlan and his girlfriend Jenny moved to Buenos Aires to take a job at a private English school. While there, they traveled extensively on the continent, including a...
When I first looked at SEAsoned I didn’t know what to expect. The front cover has a picture of one of those mega-yachts we see from time to time that make us wonder if the helipad is on the bow or ste...
“But what is happiness? . . . If I have learned anything at all by this stage in life, it is that happiness comes from within not from without.” – Sandra Clayton, Dolphins Under My Bed Readers of Sand...
A Pirate’s Christmas Wish: CD If you like drinking rum, saying “Aargh,” and you’re looking for a Christmas CD with a pirate twist, you’ll love the Bilge Pumps’ A Pirate’s Christmas Wish. It’s bo...
In the early 1940s, madmen were taking on the civilized world — and winning. The Nazis controlled most of Europe and were preparing to conquer the British Isles. The Japanese had decimated the U.S. Pa...
Derrick Hampton seems to want to be another Jimmy Buffet but that’s okay. The world needs more talented singers writing about sailing, and the sun is always over the spreaders somewhere . . . Mo...
I have been following the adventures of Richard Cutler since 2007 when the first of a projected seven-book series of novels was published. A Matter of Honor and For Love of Country, the first two nove...
When 44-year-old Barbara Singer walked away from a life that had become increasingly difficult, she did not walk directly aboard a boat. She took a road trip from Pennsylvania to Alaska and back befor...
According to author Robert Engel, “Sail Tales is about the adventures a humble sailboat owner had over the years.” Spanning 43 years of sailing — and still going strong — he’s had plenty enough ...
This is a magnificent little book for anybody who wants to do his own sail repair or fancy canvas work. First published in 1976 by Sail Books, Frank Rosenow’s The Ditty Bag Book was reissued again in ...
