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Recommended Reading

200K views 557 replies 257 participants last post by  Gaudrx3 
#1 · (Edited)
This site could benefit from a "library" or a recommended reading link. I know that suggestions have been made many times in various threads but who wants to go hunting for them? I thought that if I start a thread then we would all know what to look for when we were looking for recomendations for a good sailing read.

I have taken the liberty of cutting and pasting books that I am aware of that have been recommended in other posts and tried to give credit where it is due to whom it is due.

Perhaps the Administrator would make this post a sticky so as not to be lost until a link could be added to the resources section - if that is what is chosen to be done.
 
#392 ·
Just finished "The Godforsaken Sea", which I picked up at my library's used book sale for $1. The story of the 1997 Vendee single-handed non-stop circumnavigation race. Very compelling stories, especially the rescue at sea of two of the racers. Before reading this book, I thought of the sailors who compete in these races as more crazy-ass daredevils than supremely technically skilled sailors, but this book cured me of that. Imagine flying a spinnaker on a 60 foot boat and having to change tacks; now imagine doing it at night; now imagine both of those, and add on that the wind is blowing thirty knots; add on that seas are thirty feet, and you have slept only 4 hours in the past 50. And its below zero out. Oh, yeah, you are alone too.
 
#399 ·
(It reads fine for me in FireFox.)

I love this quote: "It's taken me time to understand it, but now I know that change sometimes comes to a man like a flying iguana through a thatched roof. The trick is to keep your eyes on the opening it makes in your roof... through it comes the fresh air and light."

Thanks for the link.
 
#401 ·
Two essentials that almost never get mention:

"Oceanography and Seamanship, 2nd Edition", William G. Van Dorn.

"The Complete Rigger's Apprentice", Brion Toss.

Almost every other title mentioned tells of adventures and the crossing of oceans, the making of the sailors into men. These two titles tell of the oceans you sail on, and the boats you do it in. Van Dorn's will tell it to you in numbers, as well as what the numbers mean. Brion Toss's is already classic for the rope work and tricks, but I soon found the rest of the book very compelling for its discussion of the rigging and how it makes the boat go.
 
#403 ·
I just finished a fun, meaningless, trashy novel called: Sex, Lies and Spinnakers. I read it on my Amazon app and it was an interesting read that related to sailing, cruisers from Mexico to South Pacific. It was a who unit.
 
#405 ·
Captured my heart, by Joe.

As a child, I would read everything I could. My Grandmother gave me a copy of "The Sea Devil's Fo'c'sle" by Lowell Thomas. It is the biography of Count Felix Von Luckner, who as a young man, ran away from his father's castle and went to sea aboard a wooden whaling vessel. His true adventures, illustrated with photographs of himself and the ships and scenes from the days of iron men and wooden ships are priceless. The sea stories he relates in this book are not only humorous, or sometimes tragic, but supremely illustrative of what life aboard was like in those transitional times between sail and steam. Von Luckner is larger than life going from a lad before the mast to captain of a German privateer during the war that preyed very successfully upon allied shipping without a single life lost. Lowell Thomas has a second book about Count Von Luckner titled, "Count Von Luckner, The Sea Devil" which details his exploits and adventures as the last privateer? I still have these two books, printed in 1927, and I plan to take them back to sea with us when my daughter and I set sail in two years.
 
#408 ·
Dove by Robin L. Graham

I got my start in sailing when I forged my dad's signature to get the Time - Life Library of Boating books mailed to me, one every other month (12 in all.) (This was in the early 70's. I was around 10 years old.) When a book came in, I dove into it and didn't come out until I had the entire thing memorized. I was so engrossed in the subject that my mom hired an old salt who lived aboard his 32 foot sloop (Jade) to give me lessons on weekends.
 
#409 ·
The Rudder Treasury

The Rudder was a yachting magazine first published in 1891. The Rudder Treasury contains some of what the editors considered the best of those articles on a number of topics from boat design to general advice. The first chapter is devoted to winter reading.

The basic philosophy of the magazine is summed up nicely in the foreword:

[Thomas Fleming] Day and his successors were of the school that the doing was more important than the having. As a result, there was little in The Rudder about buying stuff off the shelf and more about making it. Cruising wasn't about driving from one marina to another and plugging the air conditioner into the grid; it was about handing, reefing, and steering, and cooking up a meal of boiled potatoes and canned beans when you got there. Racing was about the joys of competition without any chest-pounding braggadocio at the finish line.

The publisher is Sheridan House.

The articles are somewhat dated in their terminology (references to "*******" but that was acceptable then) but most are still very relevant to boaters today. The articles vary in length so you can read a few to end your day at anchor with a nice bourbon, or shoot through one while at the gas station. (I have an SUV and once read half of a newspaper section waiting for it to fill.)
 
#410 ·
"A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist and Buccaneer - the Life of William Dampier"

Diana and Michael Preston

(ISBN 978-0802714251)

Absolutely fascinating book...
 
#414 ·
Swept by Torre Deroche - This books is just out - One of the best and funniest sailing books I've ever read - Check out some of the reviews at amazon

Amazon.com: Swept: Love with a Chance of Drowning eBook: Torre DeRoche: Kindle Store

"... a hang onto your seat, laugh out loud, emotional roller-coaster across the Pacific Ocean. Torre is an example to every human who's ever had a dream, showing us time and again that adventures can be had (and enjoyed) by even the most fearful of adventurers." --Danny Bent, Author of You've gone too far this time, Sir!

"An armchair voyage [with] all the perfect ingredients for a sweet love story, above and beyond the adventure of it all." --Tania Aebi, Author of Maiden Voyage and the First American Woman and Youngest Person to Sail Around the World Alone

"A book I wish I had published ... a story of finding courage when your gut clenches and all you want to do is go home." --Normandie Ward Fischer, Executive Editor at Wayside Press

"... a vivid and accurate picture of what life is really like for a reluctant sailor on a big ocean in a small boat ... I found myself laughing out loud as often as I was turning the page to find out what happens next." --Nick O'Kelly, Author of Get Her On Board: Secrets to Sharing the Cruising Dream

"I can't recall ever reading such an honest account of cruising. You showed the 'flaws' in thinking that led to various levels of catastrophe and/or injury, and that can't be easy." --Nancy McKeown, Sailor, S/V Shanachie

Highly recommend it. Alep
 
#415 ·
Embarrassment of Mangoes by Ann Vanderhoof- Canadian couple that takes off 2 years from successful careers to chase their Caribbean sailing dream

Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum- Story of the first man to sail single handed around the world (autobiography)
 
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