Read any good (sailing) books lately?

[TS Farley]

The eight in the photo (some already mentioned) as well as We, the Navigators (a favourite), Sailing Vessel Silhouettes by Charles Davis 1929 and Charlie's Charts, hand drawings from Victoria BC to Glacier Bay Alaska, timeless.

 

[TS Farley]

The eight in the photo (some already mentioned) as well as We, the Navigators (a favourite), Sailing Vessel Silhouettes by Charles Davis 1929 and Charlie's Charts, hand drawings from Victoria BC to Glacier Bay Alaska, timeless.

Oh, and of course, Secret Water by Arthur Ransome, an absolute favourite.

 

[Pete the Cat]

I just finished "Overboard" by Michael J Tougias. There are a number of books by that title, but this one was a well written story about a group of competent skippers getting into a situation and the extraordinary efforts to survive.

 

[Bepi]

A few years ago I reread 20,000 leagues under the sea. It was better than I remembered. I ran some calculations and figured out that 20,000 leagues below the suface of the sea would have you go through the earth and leave you out in deep space. Then it dawned on me, it was the distance travelled to various points on while under water. I imagine the French title "Vingt Mille Lieues sous les mers" might express more clearly what lesser minds stumble upon later.
A nautical series that I read more than any other is the "Hornblower" series. Who hove the line that saved the "Pluto"? Who led the mutany aboard the "Flame"? Who lost their leg at the Battle of Rosas? There is only one way to find out. The main charactor is a cross between Nelson and Cochrane. If you have never read this series for the young you are missing out. Action, adventure, women, and then more action! Churchill, when asked about the books, replied " I find Hornblower admirable."

 

[Prairie Schooner]

Your opinion on
The Raft Book by Harold Gatty ???????

If you've seen it or own it, how useful is this book?
John Kretschmer speaks highly of it. They're going for about $100+ on eBay, with charts, tape, sleeve. I don't have one and haven't seen one IRL. Financial value is a personal thing, but I'm interested in your assessment of its practical value. Can the info be got, somewhat concisely, in a different form, for less?
Thanks, Jeff

* I posted this shortly before Christmas with no response. I'm giving it another shot here in the doldrums of winter.

 

[Christian Williams]

I had as a kid a similar book. It was actually a Navy publication, and I memorized it. It said don't drink urine, showed how to use a penknife as a fish hook, and advocated letting crewmen smoke in the raft because it calmed them. It was a wonderful read, about the physical format of the Gatty book. It was very big on not drinking seawater and keeping a hat on, using the raft mirror to attract ships, not giving up and so on.

Based on that, I can't imagine wartime-era advice being much use today, except as a collector's item. We just have so many navigation and rescue options that the old stuff is mostly quaint.

 

[Prairie Schooner]

@Christian Williams - That's what I thought too, and have spent similar time enjoying those types of books. With the same fascination I bought a surplus WWII folding mesh radar reflector still packed in olive drab waxed paper at the Old Defender (rip) spring sale.

I did a little more digging on this and the Gatty book is all about navigation.
"This book has been written for those who, without previous experience in navigation and without navigating instruments, find themselves in small craft in the open sea and who have to make their way to land."
I even found a digital copy online.

The Raft Book : Harold Gatty : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Timeless book of practical navigation and survival information.

archive.org

I'll probably hold off on purchasing one for a while and see how I like the digital version first.

 

[Tooluser]

Just finished _Sailing the Bay_ by Kimball Livingston.

It's nominally region-specific, describing as it does the SF Bay Area and immediate coastal waters. But it's stylistically gorgeous. @Christian Williams I think of you as a stylist and a lover of good prose and you'll note that Livingston too was a journalist, and has done what the occasional journalist does (or used to do?). The turns of phrase are tight.

And even though it's region-specific, the waters here are legendary for a reason and I think many of the lessons are applicable, even if only to the degree that detailed inspection is rewarded with great appreciation of the subtlety to be found anywhere there's water. For example, for the chapter on our tides and their currents and countercurrents, and the dizzying way the north bay ebbs into a flood into the South Bay at ebb, and all the other hydrological marvels, he has sections from U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist Ralph Ta-Shun Cheng. Similarly for racers and the history of the races on and around the bay.

It's available again, I think, and used if not. I found a copy on the wall at the Bay View Boat Club and got a used copy from Abe Books for myself.

 

[Tooluser]

Wanted to add, new to me thanks to a forum poster, Webb Chiles. He sailed an engineless E37 around the world, treaded water for 26 hours and 125 miles after losing a boat. . . on and on. Quite a character.

 

[alcodiesel]

I enjoyed this one. During covid lock down this chap went on an extended cruise to isolate. He's an old hand at sailing.