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Small-Boat Seamanship Manual

Edited by Richard N. Aarons

International Marine, McGraw-Hill

Softcover, 468 pages

The book contains all the information found in the U.S. Coast Guard’s training manual, covering everything from boat handling, navigation, towing, knots and how to deal with pending disasters from broken hydraulic steering, capsizes, and patching a hole in a hull. This book is the recreational boaters’ answer to an in-depth safety course on boat handling. As the editor says, “part of the joy of recreational boating – a large part, I think, is found in mastering the skills of the seaman and learning the lure of the sea.” By small boat, the manual is designed for those who sail vessels up to 40 or 50 ft. in length, and a wide range of topics are covered, from first-aid (tying splints, etc) at sea, to heavy-weather boat handling and piloting (avoid yawing and pitching) and U.S. aids to navigation (handy for those heading south). The layout is sparse, like any course manual really, mostly black-and-white, with rudimentary use of diagrams and photographs. Some sections of the manual are written more technical then not, but the information is most helpful, whether sailing in the Great Lakes or off-shore. There is some really useful information, even for the more advanced skipper.

 

Waggoner Cruising Guide

Edited by Robert Hale

Distributed by Heritage Group

Softcover, 352 pages

This full-colour travel guide, presented in a magazine format rather than as a book and offering ads along with the editorial, is an ideal cockpit companion for anyone chartering or planning an extensive sail along the U.S. west coast and the waters off of British Columbia . The cruising area covers both Canada and the U.S. , from Prince Rupert in the north to Olympia , which lies down Puget Sound south of Seattle . There is a folksy introduction to cruising in these waters, with the editor recommending favourite places (San Juan Islands in the U.S. and Desolation Sound in Canada about half-way up Vancouver Island), what yacht is best (sailboats need a good engine because winds are often light and on the nose, full cockpit enclosure to keep you out of frequent rains), and the best months (April to October, with summer being prime). The editor also encourages cruisers to venture through the “gates” or larger bodies of water which take you to a different cruising area, rather than staying put. There are details for boaters on checking in when crossing the border, anchoring, marine charts and some general cruising tips (the editor has a Tollycraft 37 powerboat, but offers lots of info for sailors). There are some great maps of marinas, with details such as the actually layout of the finger docks, and places of interest are noted and marked on the maps. The many islands and bays that dot the coast are marked as well, but but anchorages and marine hazards are not. Some hazards are mentioned in the write-up on each location, with details on dockage, tides, shopping and other amenities nearby.

 

The Complete Yachtmaster, 5 th Edition

By Tom Cunliffe, Aldard Coles Nautical

Distributed by Raincoast Books

Hardcover, 250 pages

Author Tom Cunliffe, a Brit who was delivering yachts when he caught the teaching bug and decided to instruct others on how to sail, says in the introduction that he was taken aback by some gaps in his sailing knowledge when he took formal training to be an instructor. He had just finished a cruise from the U.K. to Brazil with stops in the Caribbean, U.S. and Canada, when he signed up to write his instructor’s test after missing a delivery job to someone with more proper training. He expected a “desk sailor” to test him, but was surprised to learn in the exam that he had “one or two gaps in my armour of which I was justly ashamed.” After years of teaching –he spent four years as a senior offshore instructor with the British National Sailing Centre -- Cunliffe began writing books in 1985. He has now revised a copy of this book, first published in 1994, and basis some of the book on the Royal Yachting Association’s Yachtmaster sail-training program. Cunliffe says sailing “engages every facet of our being” because it is physical (as much as you want), intellectual and aesthetic. In this book, he covers a wide range of topics for sailors, focusing on seamanship and navigation. There are chapters on the basics (tacking, jibing, heaving to), anchoring (types, proper laying techniques, kedging off), charting and weather. For the more advanced, there are tips on sailing in heavy weather (running, para anchors, trysails) and passage making (waypoints, sea sickness, planning routes). Cunliffe, who is a regular columnist with Yachting World in Britain and Sail in the U.S. , enjoys sailing his 40-ft. gaff cutter and has cruised extensively from Russia to the Artic and in popular areas such as the Caribbean .

 

The End of Barbary Terror

By Frederick C. Leiner

Oxford University Press

Hardcover, 239 pages

This is the story of taking American seamen as slaves by Muslim states along the Barbary or north coast of Africa, and how the U.S. declared war on Algiers in 1815 and sent a navy a ten armed sailing ships – and a recipe for poisonous gas, a then-unknown weapon prior to its first use during WW I – to get them back. It is the story of a young country (the U.S. became independent from Britain in 1783 and was just developing a navy) fighting for freedom in an age of slavery, condoned by countries around the world. Up to 12 million black slaves were shipped from Africa to the Americas over a few hundred years, and up to one million or more white Christians were enslaved in Islamic North Africa. The story starts with the capture of the 71 ft. U.S. brig Edwin by Algerian corsairs whose crew rowed out to gather slaves for their Muslim ruler, even though many countries including the U.S. were paying Barbary states to allow for free passage of their trading ships. Then U.S. President James Madison declared war on Algeria and sent the largest American naval force ever assembled up to that time, under the command of commodore Stephen Decatur. He fought and captured two Barbary ships, and shortly thereafter Algiers surrendered, signing a treaty “dictated at the mouths of our cannon,” as he described it. The U.S. never paid money to Barbary states after that for free passage of their trading ships, and the captive U.S. seamen were freed although, ironically, their ship was caught in a storm and lost at sea on a return trip home. Author Frederick Leiner, a Baltimore lawyer and author of Millions for Defense: The Subscription Warships of 1798, says “When Algiers began once again to carry American seamen off their ships into slavery (despite the large payments)…the U.S. would speak from the mouths of its cannon, the navy was sent to put an end to Barbary terror.”

He gathered details for the book from old ship’s logs, journals, government documents and love letters sent by the seamen.

The New Complete Sailing Manual

By Steve Sleight

Dorling Kindersley (DK) Ltd.

Hardcover, 448 pages

If you were going to get one book for a sailor in your family, this could be it. This is a definitive and “complete” sailing manual, by its very name. It’s an exhaustive collection of information on the art of sailing, covering everything from basic boating techniques (points of sail, knots, rigging) to more advanced systems, such as servicing inboard diesel engines, patching a blown sail, repairing a holed hull, and fixing scratched gelcoat. You name a sailing topic and author Steve Sleight, who began sailing at age 10 not because of a family connection but because of books he read by Arthur Ransome, has covered it in this beautifully laid-out and illustrated tome. Sleight says he learned as a youth by “voraciously devouring every sailing book I could get my hands on…(however) today, a more formal route to training is the sensible option” along with time on the water. He says this book can be “a faithful companion.” The full-colour book is filled with plenty of photographs and graphics to help the novice learn about sailing and it will also help the experienced yachtsman brush up on issues such as dealing with a dismasting. The edges of the pages are colour-coded into eight main sections: first principles; small boat sailing; advanced small boat sailing; cruiser sailing; navigation; weather; practical boat care; and staying safe. Small boat sailing deals with dinghies (choosing the right one, points of sail), while cruiser sailing deals with larger yachts which can go the distance (anchoring, passage planning, marina berthing). You can learn a lot from this book, no matter where you are on the learning scale. Take the plunge. You will resurface thankful as you glide comfortably through the waves.