Maurice Griffiths...

[ex-Gladys]

I'm a fairly avid reader of many different types of book. I bought Magic of the Swatchways as a "filler" in an Amazon order recently and read it immediately. I enjoyed it so much I started it again straight away. Can't remember doing that with ANY book before since I was a kid... Obviously sailing from Mersea helps, but the style....

 

[RupertW]

It's a stunning book isn't it, especially for showing the sheer joy of boating without any mod-cons, mid-winter and expecting to take public transport to and from the boat.

I used to have copies of a couple of other ones of his - one in particular about small boat design was in fact a series of chapters about boats he'd owned or designed and stories about sailing in them. Great stuff. Almost enought to make me an East Coast sailor, but I'm afraid I've sailed both the boats I've bought there straight round to the South Coast, so I've been to Mersea once and Felixstowe Ferry once and that's about it.

 

[Parsonsheath]

Magic of the Swatchways is a book you can read, and re read, and each time you get a little more from it.

OK, I too am local and know the places he talks of, but it was a great read before then.

Another in the same ilk is The First of The Tide, again his love of the shoal waters of this region

When I got Little Ships and Shoal Waters I had not realised it was a history of his boats and designs, no stories there to catch the imagination! Still, the book grew on me, though it was one of those you tended to dip in, rather than work through..

Still got hooked, and got Sixty years a Yacht Designer which is a record of his achievements and designs.

The first two are great reads, the last two the more fascinating if you have read of the man.