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Read any good books lately?

4K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  bikersailor 
#1 ·
The older I get, the more I enjoy reading good books on sailing adventure(non-fiction)or sailing advice. I''ve recently re-read some of my old standby''s, and am looking for recommendations for something new.

A sampling of my standbys are:
Close to the Wind (Pete Goss) excellent,,
The Long Way (Bernard Moitessier) excellent,,
Swan second voyage (Jim Moore)good,,
Seraffyn (Lin & Larry Pardey) good,,

On my want list are : Heavy Weather Sailing (Coles) and Nigel Calders Cruising.

Anyone recommend these or others?
 
#5 ·
I enjoyed Francis Chichester''s books, especially the one about his solo circumnavigation, when he tried to beat the time of the clipper ships.

Heavy Weather Sailing by Adlard Coles is excellent. He sailed and raced small boats in the North Atlantic, and tried every imaginable storm sailing technique. He discusses the pros and cons of every imaginable storm sailing technique.

Tristan Jones wrote several good books. He was very salty in his language and attitude, and, in one book, sailed a small boat into the north polar ice pack, and in another book, he mostly sailed and partly portaged his boat from west to east across South America, exiting via the Amazon River.

The Bounty Trilogy is a great read, even if you have seen the movie. The first part describes the cruise of the Bounty, and the mutiny. The second part describes the cruise of the Pandora, which was sent out by the British to capture the mutineers and bring them back for trial. The third part describes the trial of the mutineers who were captured. One of the segments (I think the first) also recounts Bligh''s 3600 mile cruise in the small, leaky, ship''s launch after the mutiny, which is considered one of the greatest small boat trips in history.

Also, read one of the several books written about the attempt to reach the south pole by Ernest Shackleton. His ship, the Endurance, was beset in ice and crushed. He and his crew sailed three small boats to uninhabited Elephant Island, and then he and four others sailed a small boat across Cape Horn to a whaling station on a small island. This was also one of the great small boat voyages.

Check the computerized catalogue in your local library for the titles of Chichester''s and Jones''s various books, and for books about the Shackleton trip.
 
#6 ·
I recently finished "The Proving Ground" by G. Bruce Knecht. This is a factual account of the 1997 Sydney to Hobart race, some of it told by Larry Ellison (he’s such a weenie) of Oracle Software. I throughly enjoyed it. The first person to send me their address (to my personal page) will be mailed my copy of the book, why I''ll even sign it!
 
#8 ·
"A Unit of Water, a Unit of Time" (think I got that right) is a wonderful portrait of Joel White and some boat carpenters in Brooklin Mass, as is "Wooden Boats", about the Gannon & Benjamin yard. Olin Stephen''s autobiography "All this and Sailing, Too" is fabulous, my candidate for book of the year. If you like nautical mysteries try anything by Sam Llewellyn, but especially "The Shadow in the Sands." When all else fails read Josh Slocum again.
As you can tell, boating in Alaska for much of the year takes place in an armchair. At least here in the interior.
 
#9 ·
Hey Denr, check your messages!
 
#11 ·
If you want one to make you keep the pick down a bit longer, try "A Fatal Storm''" by Rob Mundle - about the 1998 Sydney Hobart, and while the pick is firmly set I reckon you cant go past "The Master Mariner" Nicholas Monserraat(?sp)It rivals Moby Dick in the sea classic department.
 
#14 ·
I''ve read "A Fatal Storm", "Knockdown", and "The Proving Ground".

Of the three, I liked "The Proving Ground" the least.

While if provided lots of in depth time on a few stories (Sword of Orion, Sayonara) it completely overlooked certain aspects of the race, like the other three people that died and the corrected time winner.

Still a good read, but it doesn''t provide as complet a picture as the other two.
 
#16 ·
Calder''s book "Boatowners mechanical and electrical manual" is a very useful book.

Steve Dashews cruising encyclopedia has tons of good ideas in them. Some of his ideas are expensive but a lot are very practical and all but free. He writes well.

I have found Jimmy Cornel''s books to be poorly written and hard to get through. He has a lot of valuable stuff to say but really needs a good editor.

"In the Heart of the Sea" is a great book about the sinking of the Essex by a whale in the south pacific. This true story inspired Melvile to write "Moby Dick", which is another "must read" in my opinion.

I think that all of Eric Hiscocks books are still great reading although some of the technology is dated. He had a charming style. "Cruising Under Sail" is full of good ideas but, more important, I think he teaches how to analyze problems for yourself.

"The Yankee Stargazer" is out of print but I got a copy on the internet. It is the story of Nathaniel Bowditch. Bowditch wrote the original "American Practical Navigator" around the time of the American revolution. He was an incredible intellect who taught himself latin, french, and greek as well as making his fortune in the shipping trade out of Salem, Mass.

"Self Steering for Saling Craft" by John Letcher is a wonderful book that is now out of print. John was a graduate student at Cal Tech when he built a 22 ft plywood boat and sailed it to Hawaii and back. He has a real gift for taking the complex physics of hydrodynamics and aerodynamics and boiling them down to something that is easy for a non-engineer to understand.

The two volume set "The European Discovery of America" by Morrison is an excellent read. His biography of Columbus is also very good. It''s called "Admiral of the Ocean Seas". Morrison had a great enthusiasm for the adventures of the sea and it comes through in everything he wrote. He also wrote a multivolume naval history of WWII. I have not read that.

I have learned things from the Pardey''s books but don''t really agree with their minimalist approach to voyaging. Contrary to their view I have found the electronics on my boat to be among the most reliable of gear and the engine an essential piece of safety gear. I am also not a fan of oak buckets instead of a proper head.

This turned out to be longer than I expected. Once I realized that all my book shelves are in this room I had a lot of suggestions staring at me from the shelves.

John
 
#17 ·
John, that''s an excellent list - or at least the volumes I recognize. Morrison''s account of WWII seems to be written by a seaman as much as an historian and are superb, IMO. Letcher''s book deserves to be reprinted - how it escapes this while the Pardey''s ''go simple'' mantra is so popular suggests there are still publishers who haven''t saturated or perhaps even understand the market. (And I''m another non-Pardey fan, tho'' one who surely respects their accomplishments).

I bashed ''older writers from former times'' in a post or two recently, but I fully agree with your depiction of Hiscock''s writings. I feel the same way about Hal Roth''s _After 50,000 Miles_, which I recently reread for the umpteenth time. And despite its 20 yr old age, I think Ross Norgrove''s _The Cruising Life_ is the best single introduction to the many details of sailing boats across oceans yet printed - it captures the gritty reality and the many important (and some, critical) choices a sailor must make, but he doesn''t leave out the romance and adventure of it all, either. What a role model.

Jack
 
#19 ·
If you''re into history - no-nonsense nonfiction, but in the vein of Hornblower and Aubrey, try "The Nagle Journal", I believe from the University of Chicago Press.
It''s the actual journal of John Nagle, who starts out at the Battle of Brandywine in the American Revolution, ships out aboard two different privateers from Philadelphia, gets captured and released a number of times in British/French Caribbean island-trading, then does a stint in the British Navy. He''s on the first crew that''s sent with prisoners to found Sydney and settle Australia, among other things. He ends up in Ohio with relatives, getting by with a pension from Congress for his time soldiering. Matter-of fact style and a wholly different seaman''s point of view make for interesting reading, while the editor provides some background facts and information to flesh out the details.
 
#20 ·
I was surprised to see no mention of Ernest Gann''s book "Song of the Siren"

Gann has to be one of the most enjoyable writers I''ve come across as of late. He and his adventures, especially his way of portraying them, are the stuff legends are made of. A very enjoyable read, and I''ve recommended it to sailors and non-sailors alike, all with a very similar review after reading it.

As for some of the others, Alfred Lansing''s "Endurance" was quite good - about Shackleton''s voyage (Which by the way, if you have or have had a chance to see the traveling museum exhibit, it''s very worthwhile. The original photographs are quite impressive in their quality, not to mention content)

And I like Fatal Storm as well, as I see several people mentioned.

There''s another book of short story survival stories called "Rough Water" that has some pretty amazing stuff in it from some pretty amazing people. Worth picking up in my opinion.

Cheers!

Rob Welling
Sarasota, FL

P.S. If you have any questions about the books, just drop me an e-mail robw_fl@yahoo.com
 
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