My ten favourite sailing books!

Slowtack

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Whitlock

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The Lonely sea and the sky made the list from my favorites.:)
I only just read your post and, oddly, I was outside John Masefield's house in Maida Vale today. I can't remember the last time I read or heard a reference to Sea Fever and now twice in one day.
 

Sealong

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May I add:
1) "The Nautical Chart" by Arturo Perez-Reverte, an intelligent story of adventure and treasure set in modern times, translated from Spanish, brilliant. I have read it twice and will read it again sometime.

2) "Eight Bells and Topmasts" by Christopher Lee, a true tale of the life of an apprentice at sea in the late 1950s.

C.
 

ronsurf

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Which of the mention books is a good for beginner sailor, that is which book contains good instructional info on sailing?
Since you haven't had many answers, I'd suggest any of the RYA books, which generally contain very good diagrams. I'd also recommend Sailing for Dummies if you are a complete novice. Best to identify whether you are dinghy sailing or yacht cruising - while the fundamentals are the same, there are subtle differences.

I've been reading the Alan Lewrie series which are good nautical fun.
 

Wansworth

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Oh, well, if you want to be up to date… don’t bother with reading, it’s an out dated technique… just do a zero to hero course! ??
Having read all your choice its difficult to relate Mac ullens tribulations with modern yachting,especially his enervated crew that he constantly complained about??
 

Kukri

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Having read all your choice its difficult to relate Mac ullens tribulations with modern yachting,especially his enervated crew that he constantly complained about??

This is interesting!

In answering the question, of course, I was limited to the books already listed on the thread, so I made a bit of a joke of it, but at another level I think these books do have a value now.

The Beach End buoy has gone from red to black to green, Arthur Ransome’s 7 ton Hillyard, now owned by a Trust of which I am an inactive member, has had her Baby Blake and her Taylor’s stove replaced because her modern crews (by definition readers of Ransome!) don’t understand them, and so on, but I do still think that the lessons that the book teaches are still good.

The main one being, of course, the vital discovery made by McMullen, and passed on by him to Worth in person, that the safest place for a basically seaworthy boat to be is well offshore. I’m not sure that this point is really taught now - it isn’t as far as I’m aware included in the RYA Syllabus (I may be wrong about this and if I am I hope someone will correct me).

The other big point in “We Didn’t Mean to Go To Sea” is dealing with fear, and indeed panic, and again I’m not sure that this is taught.

I will just touch on McMullen‘s single handed voyage to Dover from Cherbourg in the “Orion”, because whilst I am very unlikely to cook two dozen mutton chops before setting out on a single handed passage, I do think that his approach is a good one, in terms of careful and methodical preparation before any single or short handed passage and in terms of handling bigger boats. I also think that whilst he had hired his enervated crew, I’m sure that many of us have had to deal with enervated crews gathered together by other means!

I could go on for pages, but I’m sure you get my point.?
 
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Wansworth

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One of the bits I liked was Macmullen anchour ing off Deal and going ashore to post a letter …..he was the archityple Englishman who Unfortunatly had to sail with scoundrels but he went back to small boats probably to escape the tyranny of crew?
 

The Q

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I'm feeling, rightfully, relegated to the backpage. I'm not in anyone's list :(

I have just recovered the Arthur Ransome stories (what set me off in sailing) - currently on Swallowdale. I didn't realise how well they were written when I read them as a seven year old
I'm intending to re read Coot Club and the Big Six, and sail around the sites with the books.. Not hard when she will be moored a hundred yards from Horning Staithe from April..

As for all the books mentioned by everyone else, I've read most of them at one time or other. now they're getting sorted and put out on shelving I'l probably reread most of them soon..
 
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