This is not a sailing story. As a matter of fact, there are only three scenes that occur aboard sailing ships — all epic, which makes it a worthwhile read for sailors. From start to finish, Hold Fast ...
Memoir of a Sailor’s Voyage in a Bygone Era San Juan, Puerto Rico. My husband Tom and I and our crew member sit at outside tables in the old city. We have cold drinks before us and she is lookin...
A Canadian Classic with a Racing Pedigree Issue 140: Sept/Oct 2021 As I walked down the dock at the Ludington Yacht Club, racers milled about, flags snapped in the breeze, and halyards clanged ...
This first-person narrative will not, contrary to the title, actually teach you how to build a boat. Rather, Jonathan Gornall tells the tale of his personal quest to construct a traditional clinker-bu...
A well-planned economy cruiser Issue 148: Jan/Feb 2023 Rich and Carolyn Sutorius of St. Charles, Missouri, sailed a Seafarer 26, Manana, for more than 30 years. We reviewed the boat in the July/August...
It is a tale oft told, a bright and promising voyage of brave young people who sail off to conquer terra incognita, well equipped and well led, only to be taught cruel and tragic lessons by the extrem...
A Solid CCA-Style Centerboard Racer/Cruiser Issue 143: March/April 2022 John Geraci may not have known Pearson Yachts’ history when he learned how to sail in 1969 on a Pearson Commander, but he ...
A solid though somewhat stately cruiser Pearson Yachts set off in a new direction in the 1970s. After the company’s founders, Clint and Everett Pearson, left in the mid-1960s, Bill Shaw took over as g...
This is a remarkable story of one couple’s 17-year, 40,000-mile adventure that chronicles their sail from British Columbia to Lake Ontario the long way around. That is, heading west via French Polynes...
The subtitle of this new book is enticing: “The fine art of selecting a great boat, outfitting it, living aboard, and cruising it on a minimal budget.” If you find this resonates with your adventure g...
The late Bruce Kirby was one of the most influential yacht designers of the 20th century. Though known primarily for the Laser, his design career lasted over 40 years in two countries and spanned a ra...
When Tim Severin died at 80 in December 2020, I thought, “I know that name. He wrote stories about the sea.” The particular book that came to mind was this one, The Brendan Voyage, which recounts an A...
This classic nautical book is aimed squarely at Good Old Boat readers, despite being written decades before Good Old Boat magazine came to be. The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float is not so much a tale of man ...
During these COVID-19 days of isolation, this 17,000-mile voyage by a father and son on a 25-foot engineless sloop, has the effect of making our stay-at-home confinement seem downright luxurious in co...
Home From Distant Seas is the final volume in James Baldwin’s Distant Seas trilogy, documenting the completion of his 13-year circumnavigation aboard Atom, his 1963 28-foot Pearson Triton. We follow B...
…and Two More Performance Cruisers. Issue 138: May/June 2021 I assumed the Passport 42 would be a Bob Perry design, an assumption further reinforced when I saw she had a Valiant 40-style canoe s...
Checking All the Boxes Issue 138: May/June 2021 After only a few dates, Scott Voltz and Connie Bunyer knew two things: They liked each other, and they liked sailing. Well…Scott knew he loved sailing; ...
As I write this review, I am a few weeks into a winter move to the Maine coast. The picture window to my right is dark at 4 pm, and the house shivers under a squirrely wind gusting over the island tha...
To the experienced sailors out there who have read the addictive narratives of Cook, Ross, Amundsen, and Shackleton, and who have dreamed of their own voyage to extreme latitudes, your book has been w...
Sundowners in paradise? Check. Uncertainty? Check. Doubt? Check. Relationship drama? Check. Check. Check. Plunge is an apt title for this cruising narrative as the author doesn’t simply dribble ...
This book, aptly subtitled, “Fiberglass Boats and the Men Who Made Them,” is the bible of the fiberglass boatbuilding industry. And Dan Spurr is the prophet to write it. Dan is Good Old Boat magazine’...
A trio of Pearson 36-1 owners compares notes on their boats, refits, and wide-ranging sailing. Issue 137: March/April 2021 In 1972, Pearson Yachts began producing the P36-1, designed by William Shaw. ...
In the world of sailing vloggers, few crews are better known than the Delos crew. They have sailed around the world with their cameras rolling and have a loyal tribe of followers for every nautical mi...
As the title makes clear, this is a book of 27 unforgettable stories. Having just read this book, I realize I’ve already forgotten most of them. Then again, my rusty old brain does not remember things...
…and Two More CCA-Onspired Classics Issue 137: March/April 2021 Carl Alberg developed a design aesthetic based on the Cruising Club of America (CCA) yachts of the 1950s and ’60s, and he never re...
A Classic Full-Keel Beauty Issue 137: March/April 2021 Laurie Knight’s lifelong dream has been to own and sail her own boat, something she hopes all women will realize isn’t as hard as it looks and is...
This 1970s family cruiser offers a fair turn of speed Pearson Yachts was one of the most respected builders during its long run from 1956 to 1988 or thereabouts (under ownership by an investment firm,...
It’s amazing to think that no scholars atop the masthead of Melville studies had thought until now to undertake the systematic cataloging of the ways in which Moby-Dick reflects the 19th century mind ...
What do you do when you’ve prepared for a single-handed around-the-world sailboat competition, have a great 40-foot high-performance boat ready to go… and then the race is called off? Go. That’s what ...
Rarely do I really enjoy a cruising memoir that melds a family story with descriptions of white-knuckled adventure. I also tend to identify with solo sailors or the male half of a cruising couple, bei...
