Frank Langer
1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Following the sale of many of my books, I've updated the list above to show the remaining books still for sale.
Frank
Frank
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Notable Little-Known Sailing Books
- Thread starter Christian Williams
- Start date
old time charm
I suggest that you try to find a copy of "Yachtman's Omnibus" by HA Callahan- a marvelous compendium of outdated information on large New York yacht club sailing and racing, in the disguise of "learning to sail"," Learning to race" and "learning to cruise". Gives a much needed perspective on what equipment was available in the 1940s until the electronic revolution in the late 60s, how to do things cleverly, and the yachting snobbery of the age. Reading it combines wincing (about 'paid hands'), laughing, and amazement on how things have changed. The volumes are also available as singles, and are found in almost any nautical junk shop. Highly recommended.
steve naulty
ericson 35-3 'anodyne'
shadyside MD
I suggest that you try to find a copy of "Yachtman's Omnibus" by HA Callahan- a marvelous compendium of outdated information on large New York yacht club sailing and racing, in the disguise of "learning to sail"," Learning to race" and "learning to cruise". Gives a much needed perspective on what equipment was available in the 1940s until the electronic revolution in the late 60s, how to do things cleverly, and the yachting snobbery of the age. Reading it combines wincing (about 'paid hands'), laughing, and amazement on how things have changed. The volumes are also available as singles, and are found in almost any nautical junk shop. Highly recommended.
steve naulty
ericson 35-3 'anodyne'
shadyside MD
Much agree on the old books. On the boat I have Colin Mudie's account of sailing across the English channel to France in an 18-foot open boat in order to attend a social event. Three guys, age 18, with their good clothes in a canvas bag. They almost sank, got lost, bailed all the way, finally arrived, attended in wet shoes, got drunk, slept an hour or two, and headed back into a Channel gale to make work on time Monday morning.
Tally ho and all that.
Tally ho and all that.
Frank Langer
1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Hi Josh/Juice,
I recognize those books!
I'm glad they arrived safely. I'm sure you'll find them useful, as I did.
I'm still in Thailand for another week, and then I'll contact those of you that also requested books.
Frank
I recognize those books!
I'm glad they arrived safely. I'm sure you'll find them useful, as I did.
I'm still in Thailand for another week, and then I'll contact those of you that also requested books.
Frank
Last edited:
treasure trove
Out of a search for something else, I ran across this site:
http://boat-links.com/naut-lit.html
The "nautical fiction list" includes dozens of authors I'd never heard of, as well as many I'd forgotten completely about.
Bruce
Out of a search for something else, I ran across this site:
http://boat-links.com/naut-lit.html
The "nautical fiction list" includes dozens of authors I'd never heard of, as well as many I'd forgotten completely about.
Bruce
Nice site, thanks. I looked up Llewellyn, Sam. I like his fiction writing. There are a few I haven't read ...
Filkee
Sustaining Member
Agree. I read them as a kid and then again just as I was purchasing Aylwin. So much of it is so beautifully out of date but as you read it the beam gets narrower and you feel yourself bumping your head on fine wood construction. The mildewed pages give me a headache but it’s worth it.
Mike Jacker's book--a new classic.
ericsonyachts.org
"Taken by the Wind" by Mike Jacker, ("Joliba")
Here's a marvelous book by a fellow forum member so advanced in age as to remember with entire recall his voyages to the south seas in the mid 1970s aboard a Cal 2-30. Mike Jacker is a natural storyteller with the (now) extraordinary attributes of attention to detail, research and confirmation...
Blue Streak
E25
Did anyone mention Longitude?
I found it interesting.
I found it interesting.
This thread seems to have re-started, which is nice for me since it brought it to my attention for the first time.
I will add some suggestions:
Tom Cunliffe has written a number of nice sailing/lore books. Two I have enjoyed most are:
Tips From the Top (tips on sailing)
In the Wake of Heroes -- excerpts from his favorite little-known sailing adventure books. A lot of fun to read, and of course tips you off to a number of books you never would have stumbled across. I have enjoyed each story.
There is another 'All Hands Aloft', different than the one already mentioned and really very good reading:
'All Hands Aloft' by Lou Schmidt (a young cadet on the ship, the rank below 'Ordinary Seaman')
subtitle: An account of the voyage of the square-rigger Arapahoe to Manila in 1918
ASIN : B00ABE8B5G Publisher : Howell North Books; First Edition (January 1, 1965)
(Out of print, I think, but really well done if a bit dated in how it related certain bits. A blast to read, truly great hurricane rescue story, and the ship is one of the sister ships to the Moshulu that Eric Newby ('Last Grain Race') sailed on, so a nice (and more fun read, if not necessarily more informative) counterpoint to that. Good enough that I have both read it twice and given it as a gift twice, FWIW.
No one has mentioned John Kretschmer yet, but I like his stuff:
Sailing a Serious Ocean -- is both a fun read and very informative. Highly recommended
Also
Cape Horn to Starboard -- what it says; sailed a Contessa 32 from the US East coast to San Francisco via Cape Horn.
and
Flirting with Mermaids: The Unpredictable Life of a Sailboat Delivery Skipper -- generally entertaining
Like an earlier poster, I also enjoyed Sobel's 'Longitude', but it should be taken with a grain of salt... it comes from the well-established genre of 'my PhD thesis into a book about how X changed the world.' However, careful reading of Slocum's 'Sailing alone around the world' reveals that he derived great amusement by showing people in different ports his "chronometer", which was a cheap, inaccurate wind-up alarm clock. The truth was that he was actually using the 'method of lunars', which he knew well from his time as a ship captain, and which allowed one, even back in the mid 1700's, let alone ~ 1900, to... navigate extremely accurately without a chronometer. Oh, wait... the chronometer did NOT change the world, as 'Longitude' suggests, and wasn't even necessary. It just made it easier to navigate accurately. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy the Longitude book anyway
C.f.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_distance_(navigation)
I will add some suggestions:
Tom Cunliffe has written a number of nice sailing/lore books. Two I have enjoyed most are:
Tips From the Top (tips on sailing)
In the Wake of Heroes -- excerpts from his favorite little-known sailing adventure books. A lot of fun to read, and of course tips you off to a number of books you never would have stumbled across. I have enjoyed each story.
There is another 'All Hands Aloft', different than the one already mentioned and really very good reading:
'All Hands Aloft' by Lou Schmidt (a young cadet on the ship, the rank below 'Ordinary Seaman')
subtitle: An account of the voyage of the square-rigger Arapahoe to Manila in 1918
ASIN : B00ABE8B5G Publisher : Howell North Books; First Edition (January 1, 1965)
(Out of print, I think, but really well done if a bit dated in how it related certain bits. A blast to read, truly great hurricane rescue story, and the ship is one of the sister ships to the Moshulu that Eric Newby ('Last Grain Race') sailed on, so a nice (and more fun read, if not necessarily more informative) counterpoint to that. Good enough that I have both read it twice and given it as a gift twice, FWIW.
No one has mentioned John Kretschmer yet, but I like his stuff:
Sailing a Serious Ocean -- is both a fun read and very informative. Highly recommended
Also
Cape Horn to Starboard -- what it says; sailed a Contessa 32 from the US East coast to San Francisco via Cape Horn.
and
Flirting with Mermaids: The Unpredictable Life of a Sailboat Delivery Skipper -- generally entertaining
Like an earlier poster, I also enjoyed Sobel's 'Longitude', but it should be taken with a grain of salt... it comes from the well-established genre of 'my PhD thesis into a book about how X changed the world.' However, careful reading of Slocum's 'Sailing alone around the world' reveals that he derived great amusement by showing people in different ports his "chronometer", which was a cheap, inaccurate wind-up alarm clock. The truth was that he was actually using the 'method of lunars', which he knew well from his time as a ship captain, and which allowed one, even back in the mid 1700's, let alone ~ 1900, to... navigate extremely accurately without a chronometer. Oh, wait... the chronometer did NOT change the world, as 'Longitude' suggests, and wasn't even necessary. It just made it easier to navigate accurately. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy the Longitude book anyway
C.f.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_distance_(navigation)
Rosco
Exploring the BC Coast E35-2, Yanmar 3GM30
Trekka, Round the world. John Guzzwell.
A wonderful true story of 25 year old John Guzzwell, who builds a 20' 6" Yawl and sets out on a 4 year circumnavigation from Victoria BC via San Francisco then Hawaii.... He completed the San Francisco to Hawaii leg in 29 days. The book is written in such a way that it captures the day by day very well and provides daily mileage count, the old school way. Certainly among my top 3 alongside - Philosophy of Sailing and The Curve of Time of course.
Attachments
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1. Trekka.jpg
Jonathan G.
Member I
A couple of books not yet mentioned here, but that I have enjoyed:
Sea Change: Alone Across the Atlantic in a Wooden Boat by Peter Nichols. You think you've heard of everything that can go wrong with a boat, but here's a new wrinkle.
North to the Night: A Spiritual Odyssey in the Arctic by Alvah Simon. The author spends a winter on his boat, frozen in the ice in the high Arctic. (On purpose.)
Wake of the Green Storm: A Survivor's Tale by Marlin Bree. The titular storm is only a small part of the tale, which includes a lot of great history about Lake Superior.
Sea Change: Alone Across the Atlantic in a Wooden Boat by Peter Nichols. You think you've heard of everything that can go wrong with a boat, but here's a new wrinkle.
North to the Night: A Spiritual Odyssey in the Arctic by Alvah Simon. The author spends a winter on his boat, frozen in the ice in the high Arctic. (On purpose.)
Wake of the Green Storm: A Survivor's Tale by Marlin Bree. The titular storm is only a small part of the tale, which includes a lot of great history about Lake Superior.
Tooluser
Flǎneur
Late to the party, but there is now a biography of Blanchet by her (iirc) daughter-in-law, _Following the Curve of Time_.
Might be hard to find but a great story of a pre war Polish sailor's adventures https://www.amazon.com/Sun-Stars-Wladek-Wagner/dp/0931807093
Tooluser
Flǎneur
Memoir Pennington, John; Potter, Kara Orca Absolutely hilarious story of a mid-california 20-something who skips town with his girlfriend, the pastor’s daughter, and sails around the world. Candor and exaggeration, self-deprecation and thoughtful musings. California to South Pacific and then through the Southern Ocean. Very worth reading.
Passmore, John Old Man Sailing - 4 book series Fun personal narrative, full of educational details.
Memoir Baker, Randy Half Fast: (mis) Adventures in Slowly Sailing around (on) the World Mid-thirties couple from Arkansas sell it all and sail around the world - going on 25 years. Realistic, funny. Caribbean, central & South America, South Pacific. Tsunami, weather, learning the ropes.
Memoir Edwards, Anthony Moving On Delivery captain turned charter captain during the 70s. Started as a tug hand as a child in UK. Ended with restoring ruins in France. Great stories of charter.
Memoir/Technical Kretschmer, John Sailing a Serious Ocean: Sailboats, Storms, Stories, and Lessons Learned from 30 years at Sea Fantastic weaving of personal stories and opinions from a delivery and charter skipper with more nautical miles per year in a boat than statute miles in his car; hundreds of thousands of miles. Opinionated, full of great quotes and references as well as detailed justifications and analyses.
Memoir Kretschmer, John Flirting with Mermaids Anything by Kretschmer, really.
Memoir Baldwin, James Across Islands & Oceans Circumnavigation, South Seas, age ~20. Erudite and thoughtful. Wrote further later on in life. Climbed highest point of every island he visited. PNG in a fairly wild era.
Memoir Baldwin, James The Next Distant Sea: The 28-foot Sailboat Atom Continues Her Second Circumnavigation The man spent 22 years in two circumnavigations. A very thoughtful author, a quick observer, and over the years an increasingly skilled writer.
Memoir Baldwin, James Bound For Distant Seas: A Voyage Alone to Asia Aboard the 28-Foot Sailboat Atom As fantastic as Baldwin’s other stuff.
Memoir Baldwin, James Home from Distant Seas: The 28-foot sailboat Atom completes her second circumnavigation 25 years of stories from sailing around the world. Part of a series of three books. Less technical detail though plenty of high-level technique. Well-written, I believe. His first solo nav, he was very young.
Memoir Tuta, Jasna All the Colours of Polynesia Tuta’s poetic and lush descriptions of both the sailing and the lifestyle of cruising in Polynesia. One of the authors of Get Gone.
Memoir/Travelogue Hinman, Wendy Tightwads on the Loose Seven years circumnav. Good details of sailing and relationship. Ideas of places to visit for sure. Visit Japan. Taiwan. 2000s
Memoir Hinman, Wendy Sea Trials Hinman writes the circumnavigation story of her husband when he was a child. Parents were….not prepared. At all.
Memoir Woods, Stuart Blue Water, Green Skipper A novice dinghy sailor recaps his sailing education, building a custom boat, and sailing OSTAR single-handed transatlantic race in 1976. Slice of its time, with casual mention of each woman’s attractiveness somehow a necessary element, but astonishing how he launches himself off into the ocean. Competent sailor.
Memoir Tuta, Jasna; Page, Rick A Drop in the Ocean Tuta and Page are the authors of Get Real, Get Gone. This book is a narrative of Jasna’s experience learning to sail, including her childhood in Sistiana. Realistic, wry, and humorous as well as in turns poetic.
Photo Reeves, Randal The Figure 8 Voyage A figure-8 dual circumnavigation set out from San Francisco. By the former chef or maitre’d at Millennium. Photo book. Light on details. Seems quite a good sailor, but the book only accomplishes so much - perhaps I privilege text.
These may be a bit too obvious:
Technical Roth, Hal After 50,000 Miles Storm management, anchor selection, rigging tuning, pilot reading, paperwork - a must-read for cruising or live aboard. A bit dated. World-spanning - Japan to the Med.
Memoir Roth, Hal We Followed Odysseus The inestimable Hal Roth’s columns gathered together. He and his wife sail around the Med in the path, interpreted, of Odysseus’ voyage. Mediterranean details and commentary from an accomplished sailor. Dubious judgment of history, but good if high-level description of Turkey, Greece, Africa.
Passmore, John Old Man Sailing - 4 book series Fun personal narrative, full of educational details.
Memoir Baker, Randy Half Fast: (mis) Adventures in Slowly Sailing around (on) the World Mid-thirties couple from Arkansas sell it all and sail around the world - going on 25 years. Realistic, funny. Caribbean, central & South America, South Pacific. Tsunami, weather, learning the ropes.
Memoir Edwards, Anthony Moving On Delivery captain turned charter captain during the 70s. Started as a tug hand as a child in UK. Ended with restoring ruins in France. Great stories of charter.
Memoir/Technical Kretschmer, John Sailing a Serious Ocean: Sailboats, Storms, Stories, and Lessons Learned from 30 years at Sea Fantastic weaving of personal stories and opinions from a delivery and charter skipper with more nautical miles per year in a boat than statute miles in his car; hundreds of thousands of miles. Opinionated, full of great quotes and references as well as detailed justifications and analyses.
Memoir Kretschmer, John Flirting with Mermaids Anything by Kretschmer, really.
Memoir Baldwin, James Across Islands & Oceans Circumnavigation, South Seas, age ~20. Erudite and thoughtful. Wrote further later on in life. Climbed highest point of every island he visited. PNG in a fairly wild era.
Memoir Baldwin, James The Next Distant Sea: The 28-foot Sailboat Atom Continues Her Second Circumnavigation The man spent 22 years in two circumnavigations. A very thoughtful author, a quick observer, and over the years an increasingly skilled writer.
Memoir Baldwin, James Bound For Distant Seas: A Voyage Alone to Asia Aboard the 28-Foot Sailboat Atom As fantastic as Baldwin’s other stuff.
Memoir Baldwin, James Home from Distant Seas: The 28-foot sailboat Atom completes her second circumnavigation 25 years of stories from sailing around the world. Part of a series of three books. Less technical detail though plenty of high-level technique. Well-written, I believe. His first solo nav, he was very young.
Memoir Tuta, Jasna All the Colours of Polynesia Tuta’s poetic and lush descriptions of both the sailing and the lifestyle of cruising in Polynesia. One of the authors of Get Gone.
Memoir/Travelogue Hinman, Wendy Tightwads on the Loose Seven years circumnav. Good details of sailing and relationship. Ideas of places to visit for sure. Visit Japan. Taiwan. 2000s
Memoir Hinman, Wendy Sea Trials Hinman writes the circumnavigation story of her husband when he was a child. Parents were….not prepared. At all.
Memoir Woods, Stuart Blue Water, Green Skipper A novice dinghy sailor recaps his sailing education, building a custom boat, and sailing OSTAR single-handed transatlantic race in 1976. Slice of its time, with casual mention of each woman’s attractiveness somehow a necessary element, but astonishing how he launches himself off into the ocean. Competent sailor.
Memoir Tuta, Jasna; Page, Rick A Drop in the Ocean Tuta and Page are the authors of Get Real, Get Gone. This book is a narrative of Jasna’s experience learning to sail, including her childhood in Sistiana. Realistic, wry, and humorous as well as in turns poetic.
Photo Reeves, Randal The Figure 8 Voyage A figure-8 dual circumnavigation set out from San Francisco. By the former chef or maitre’d at Millennium. Photo book. Light on details. Seems quite a good sailor, but the book only accomplishes so much - perhaps I privilege text.
These may be a bit too obvious:
Technical Roth, Hal After 50,000 Miles Storm management, anchor selection, rigging tuning, pilot reading, paperwork - a must-read for cruising or live aboard. A bit dated. World-spanning - Japan to the Med.
Memoir Roth, Hal We Followed Odysseus The inestimable Hal Roth’s columns gathered together. He and his wife sail around the Med in the path, interpreted, of Odysseus’ voyage. Mediterranean details and commentary from an accomplished sailor. Dubious judgment of history, but good if high-level description of Turkey, Greece, Africa.
Tooluser
Flǎneur
@Christian Williams I admit to curiosity - what was the project you were gathering books for?
Ah yes. It was recommended to me that I write a guide to sailing books. Brief reviews so as to be a list for sailors. My publishing advisors, however, thought it was bonkers, not original, and advised against with some emphasis. You gotta listen to people, and sometimes the only way to make them stop is to nod.
The idea doesn't even work as a video (I did three, with yawn results). Probably best as a thread, and this one is a good example.
The idea doesn't even work as a video (I did three, with yawn results). Probably best as a thread, and this one is a good example.
Tooluser
Flǎneur
I remember one of them - a 'gifts for sailors' piece.
Seems annotated bibliographies are not usually performed to sold-out crowds, for all that they used to be popular and IMO are still very valuable. I wish _I_ had one (which is why I made one; the above is a truncated edition of my own). Which received similar yawns when I shared it with my sailing friends - who nevertheless still appreciate recommendations. I guess book recommendations are just a great deal more exciting in person.
I do think maybe you (personally) could pull it off if you adopted more of the 'lets you and I talk about sailing, have you read James Baldwin?' tone. But, doing it sincerely would probably require being critical sometimes and that's not a tone that's good to take too often.
Well, I'm enjoying the conversation. And, I'm running out of books to read, so let's all keep those cards and letters coming. . . .
On that vein, I just read Reading the Glass, because I was looking for a good description of global weather systems and their mechanisms. Written by a captain of SSV Robert C Seamens, and really fantastic.
Seems annotated bibliographies are not usually performed to sold-out crowds, for all that they used to be popular and IMO are still very valuable. I wish _I_ had one (which is why I made one; the above is a truncated edition of my own). Which received similar yawns when I shared it with my sailing friends - who nevertheless still appreciate recommendations. I guess book recommendations are just a great deal more exciting in person.
I do think maybe you (personally) could pull it off if you adopted more of the 'lets you and I talk about sailing, have you read James Baldwin?' tone. But, doing it sincerely would probably require being critical sometimes and that's not a tone that's good to take too often.
Well, I'm enjoying the conversation. And, I'm running out of books to read, so let's all keep those cards and letters coming. . . .
On that vein, I just read Reading the Glass, because I was looking for a good description of global weather systems and their mechanisms. Written by a captain of SSV Robert C Seamens, and really fantastic.
My teenage son and tweenage daughter have mastered this. It's a hot topic of conversation in our house lately