General Books - Page 4

The Marlinspike Sailor

Hervey Garrett Smith

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Sailing knots and splices 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I purchased this book for my husband who has been looking for a easy explanation of splicing...He had the following to say: Have looked through several books on sailing knots and splicing and none have done a better job than The Marlinspike Sailor. The text shows a decent array of knots and does a great job on splicing which is what I purchased the text for. I have had no trouble following the simple directions to troublefree splices...a great item

Editorial Review:

Hervey Garrett Smith was the foremost marine illustrator of the 1950s and 1960s, and his wonderful drawings of traditional ropework quickly propelled The Marlinspike Sailor to cult classic status when it was published in 1956. With the addition of a section on modern, synthetic rope in the 1970s, its popularity has continued undiminished to this day. It teaches a few basic knots--the bowline, sheet bend, and rolling hitch, among others--and splices in three-strand and braided rope. But its real business is decorative rope and canvaswork--the traditional arts of the sailor--and here it has no equal. For a rope mat, a rope ladder, a sea chest, a ditty bag, a canvas bucket, a mast boot, and the best-looking rope fenders or heaving line in the marina, this is the book of choice.

The Racing Rules Companion 2009 - 2012

Bryan Willis

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Editorial Review:

A quick reference to any situation that should arise during a race, this trim, splash-proof guide offers beginners instant access to the newest racing rules for yachts, dinghies, and windsurfing. A summary of the latest ISAF regulations, which are revised every four years, this practical, user-friendly guide covers the basic rules of sailing, covering everything from changing course, visual signals, penalty turns, and even includes advice on protesting or appealing a decision. Here is the perfect onboard thumb-through guide for meeting any racing challenge as it happens.

Maiden Voyage

Tania Aebi

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 82 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Maiden Voyage review 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I was really excited to start reading this book, but as soon as I started I knew it was not going to be what I thought. There are very many nautical terms that if you are not familiar with, may be confusing at times. The author switches from one setting to another very quickly. I can't say this book is the most disappointing book I have read in my life, but it certainly is amongst the top ten. If you are familiar with nautical wording, then this book would be fine for you. I was not so therefore, was expecting a different type of story.

Inspiring amazing real story - Loved it! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Tania Aebi's book is a truly inspirational story. My wife and I read it simultaneously and we argued about whose turn was it all the time! Tania's story leaving NY at a very early age in a Contessa 26 for a two and a half years around the world trip without much sailing experience is amazing. Since I like sailing I enjoyed it as a sailing adventure but I was equally engaged with such personal inspirational story. We "traveled" with her and admired her courage every mile she did. If you don't sail, you will enjoy it too.
When we finished the book, both my wife and I, had the sad feeling that only a reader can understand..."I wish I wouldn't have finished it yet!"
We followed up looking for more books and end up finding what was of her life and learned that she'd been cruising with her two sons 22 years later to expose them to such amazing experience. She was the first woman who did a circumnavigation solo despite her record (for which she didn't care) was not granted because of a very small cross between two islands that she did with a friend. I am sure she is perceived as the first woman who solo circumnavigated and that's when you understand that the record was the less important part of her journey. You will love this book and if you are a sailor, you will start dreaming about doing it yourself.

Editorial Review:

Tania Aebe was an eighteen-year-old dropout and barfly. She was going nowhere until her father offered her a challenge. He would offer her either a college education or a twenty-six-foot sloop in which she had to sail around the world alone. She chose the boat and for two years it was her home, as she negotiated weather, illness, fear, and ultimately, a spiritual quest that brought her home to herself....

Cruising World 2009 Calendar

Amazon Price: $9.99 List Price: $13.95 In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. By: Tide-Mark Press (COM) - Model: 9781594904226 Amazon Marketplace: 4 new & used starting at $9.99

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Editorial Review:

The call of the sea sounds clearly in this calendar from the editors of Cruising World magazine. Escape on a relaxing sail to far-flung ports of call and exotic locales.

Book annotation not available for this title.
Title: Cruising World 2009 Calendar
Author: Tide-Mark Press (COM)
Publisher: Tide-Mark Pr Ltd
Publication Date: 2008/06/30
Number of Pages:
Binding Type: PAPERBACK
Library of Congress:

Celestial Navigation for Yachtsmen

Mary Blewitt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

There is deep mystery and profound satisfaction in finding your position on earth by reference to the sun, moon, and stars--not to mention profound relief when the GPS receiver stops working in mid-passage. That is why knowledge of celestial navigation is still a rite of initiation, and its practice still a favorite pastime among serious cruisers.

That this edition of Celestial Navigation for Yachtsmen should appear 44 years after the first British edition and 27 years after its first publication in the U.S. is eloquent testimony to the author's clear, concise explanation of a difficult skill. Through those years, Celestial Navigation for Yachtsmen has been the best-known, best-loved primer on the subject throughout the English-speaking world. It successfully teaches sailors who have been demoralized by bigger books. It remains "the famous little book" on celestial navigation.

Among other changes, this edition substitutes the Nautical Almanac for the Air Almanac, discusses the "short" tables based on H.O. 211, expands the discussion in a few areas, fine-tunes it in others, and shows how to advance a line of position for a running fix from sun sights. The only mathematics involved are straightforward addition and subtraction.

Celestial Navigation for Yachtsmen has spawned many imitators over the years, but it's still the best--with this new edition more than ever.

Flirting With Mermaids: The Unpredictable Life of a Sailboat Delivery Skipper

John Kretschmer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Salt Water Dreaming 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Before I wrote my review, I read all the others. Be assured this is a great book for people who love being on the ocean, and can enjoy anything that is written about it. If you're flicking through the channels and stop to watch the Bounty for the 100th time or salt water fishing, this book you will love. Every Captain that has spent anytime at sea can identify with every single circumstance presented is this book. To agree with one fellow, I hated when it ended. And heck, even if it was all made up, I'd look up to him, he's better at telling "sea stories" than me!! Enjoy, it goes fast!!

Editorial Review:

In twenty years of delivering sailboats to far-flung quaysides, John Kretschmer has had innumerable adventures, both humorous and terrifying, ranging from a Western Caribbean research voyage with a crew of eccentric Swedes to the mid-winter crossing of the North Atlantic during which he discovered the existence of Force 13 winds. He has logged over 200,000 bluewater miles over the course of his career, and has sailed all manner of watercraft.

His adventures have been many and varied, and this book recounts them with optimism and humor, the two most important tools in any delivery skipper's bag. The result is as fascinating a sailing story as you can imagine.

The Long Way

Bernard Moitessier

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The 1960s: Rise of the Anti-Hero 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Moitessier's tale is a tale of the 1960s - of spirituality, of anti-commcercialsm, of anti-estasblishment, of yoga, of nature. Sailing solo tends to bring out one's deepest fears - understandably. Fortunately for Moitessier, he was a spiritual man, in tune with his times. And his times were all about the Anti-Hero, Man Against Machine, where winning is not an objective anymore, survival is.

So when Bernard said 'the hell with your prize and money', he shocked the world and sailed on to immortality. Note that another member of the contest, Donald Crowhurst (please read Donald Hall's classic), harboured different fears - which conspired against his sanity, resulting in suicide.

Read this book: it'll give you insights into sailing and the soul.

Editorial Review:

The Long Way recounts the incredible story of Bernard Moitessier's participation in the first Golden Globe Race a solo, non-stop circumnavigation rounding the three great Capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin, and the Horn. For seven months, the veteran seafarer battled storms, doldrums, gear failures, and knock-downs, as well as overwhelming fatigue and loneliness. Then, nearing the finish with victory in hand, Moitessier suddenly pulled out of the race and sailed on. His 37,455-mile journey continued for another three months, finally ending in Tahiti. Never once in all that time had he touched land.

A Voyage for Madmen

Peter Nichols

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Truly a race for madmen 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

A reviewer described this book as a study in abnormal psychology. Having now completed this story I can only agree with him.

In many ways the story told reminds me of "into thin air" by John Krakauer, in that it asks what drives seemingly ordinary human beings to willing pit themselves against the elements in circumstances which can easily lead to their death. In this case the author asks what would possess nine sailors to undertake to sail around the world non-stop in an age before GPS navigation, Ultralight and tough building materials and satellite phones. An era when boats were constructed of steel and teak, where radio communications were unreliable and navigation a matter of charts and sextants.

The nine challengers proved to be a diverse group, from professional sailors, to electrical engineers to soldier adventures with no previous experience at sea, and the final results reflected this starting point with withdrawals, failure and in extreme cases insanity and death. In the end the final winner was the man who was most at home at sea, a simple man whose only weakness appeared to be that he lacked the imagination necessary to fully grasp the horrors that he faced on the journey.

Overall a classic true life adventure tale.

Editorial Review:

In 1968, nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. It was a feat that had never been accomplished and one that would forever change the face of sailing. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. For the others, the reward was madness, failure, and death.

In this extraordinary book, Peter Nichols chronicles a contest of the individual against the sea, waged at a time before cell phones, satellite dishes, and electronic positioning systems. A Voyage for Madmen is a tale of sailors driven by their own dreams and demons, of horrific storms in the Southern Ocean, and of those riveting moments when a split-second decision means the difference between life and death.

Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat: A Guide to Essential Features, Handling, and Gear

John Vigor

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Buy This Book 5 out of 5 stars.
23 of 24 people found this review helpful.

Even if you do not plan to sail shorthanded thousands of miles offshore it's a very good idea to understand in detail what makes your boat seaworthy in difficult circumstances and to make it so.

This book is a very thorough and very readable treatment of the subject of everything you need to know about a sailboat (except how to sail; that part is assumed). These sorts of things distinguish good sailors from the mass of recreational sailors and I, for one, have an ambition to become the former. If you do, too, then this is a great book to read several times.

The Black Box theory of why some people are lucky and others aren't relates to preparedness and if only once in your life you need it, then it's worth it to you and your companions to have taken the trouble.

Editorial Review:

"An invaluable resource. [Vigor's] practical wisdom gives you the know-how and confidence to prepare your boat for the sea."--Cruising World. Here is the book that answer the sailor's fundamental question--"Can my boat take me offshore safely?"--then shows how to make it happen.

Inspecting the Aging Sailboat (The International Marine Sailboat Library)

Don Casey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

If you intend to buy a boat you had better be prepared. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

A great little, well illustrated book that will aid any prospective buyer of an old or even new yacht. If you're thinking about buying a yacht it can be too easy to fall in love and see straight through some rather serious faults. This book will guide you through all the obvious and not so obvious signs of use and abuse, poor workmanship and design, giving you an informed opinion as to whether or not to call a proffesional serveyor or forget it and keep saving for a new boat - I think I'll keep saving. Maybe they should retitle it 'Inspecting the hole in the sea you throw money into' - Jokes aside, highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

". . . the perfect place to begin, or continue, your education."
--Sailing

Whether you are shopping for a used fiberglass boat or prioritizing maintenance tasks on the one you already own, this book saves money--and perhaps even disaster. With clear step-by-step drawings and instructions, Don Casey explains how to recognize problems--both surface and hidden--and how to separate cosmetic flaws from serious faults.