Chrysler Sailors Forum

Now that the rage of winter is upon us (65 degrees and raining today) My thoughts turned to books or DVD's for the next week or so to keep me busy.

What books on sailing, or DVDs do you have, or have used to learn the way things work. I have Sailing Fundamentals, and a friend bought be Sailing for Dummies.

Any recommendations?

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas

Chuck

The very first book that comes to mind for learning not necessarily for general reading is the:

"Chapman Piloting Seamanship and Small Boat Handling"

Get the most current as there are new versions almost every year! This book is like a bible for boating. I have a small collection of these dating back to the 50's. My oldest naughtical book was a gift from my mother in law. It is the rules and regulations for seamanship printed in 1908! Very cool book!

Either way if learning is the goal, the Chapman's is the place I'd start!

For that entertainment evening there are tons of movies but I tend to watch Cpatain Ron over and over again! LOL!

Scott

I like "The Complete Sailor" by David Seidman. For general repair I just bought "This Old Boat" by Don Casey. The Patrick O'Brian novels for great historical fiction. Josua Slocum's "Sailing Alone Around the World" is also very good. For DVD's, Master and Commander, and I also just saw Billy Budd which I liked a lot. For something less serious, the afore mentioned Captain Ron though Martin Short gets on my nerves a bit.

All good suggesttions above. I will add: anything and everything by Fatty Goodlander. His new one just came out. They are wonderful reading. Such a character.

I'm going to go off the pier and also suggest a book called "Flight of Passage" by Rinker Buck. In the mid 60's when he and his older brother were in their mid teens they rebuilt a Piper Cub over the winter and spring(no radio, no lights, no nav equip beyond the compass) and spent the Fourth of July week flying across the country from their home New Jersey to their Uncle's house in California.

I bit salty on the language in places but a great family story.

Some preview here
http://books.google.com/books?id=TP5lDz ... &q&f=false

My recommendation is "Best of Sail Magazine's Things That Work".
I do not see it listed in their books section so I believe it is out of print.
Mine is like brand new from ebay and the copyright is 1998.

Tons of great tips that are still usable by today's standards.

Three more to recommend..."Rigging Sail" by Percy W Blandford
"Modern Sailmaking" by Percy W. Blandford
" The Sailmaker's Apprentice" by Emiliano Marino

First two out of print....last one still in print.

AH, I have to take a more fanciful Tack here.

The entire Aubry, Matturan series by Patric O'Brian 20+ books. Everyone know one of his books "Master and Commander" which you learn a lot about Captain Aubry. But his best-est friend "The Doctor", is only barely touched on in Master and Commander. The Doctor is the 007 of the Napoleonic and 1812 wars!

Every book is full of historically accurate early 1800's sea battles.

Then of course the Horatio Hornblower series on DVD for A&E. And the 1950's Horatio Hornblower movie with Gregory Peck as the good captain.

Captain Ron

Dos Bout

Captains Courages, the old black and white

Hunt For The Red October

All fun and games in my list with quasi historical settings.

Thanks
Alan

"The Self-Sufficient Sailor" by Lin and Larry Pardey.

And a new website to add to the get-thru-the-winter list

http://www.sailfeed.com/

Sail Magazine describes it as "Sail's new blog aggregation website, featuring experts from all over the world of sailing"

EmergencyExit wrote:And a new website to add to the get-thru-the-winter list

http://www.sailfeed.com/

Sail Magazine describes it as "Sail's new blog aggregation website, featuring experts from all over the world of sailing"

Nice link. I gave up on SAIL years ago cause it seemed to cater to millionaires but interesting website.

I got a near free subscription a couple years ago, and there are usually only a few things I read, some how to stuff, a "I learned from this" feature, and after that, yep, its all expensive stuff !! Esp all those ads in the last 1/3 of it..

For some good seafaring reading on those long winter night the Adam Bolitho series by Alexander Kent is a set of historical fiction novels that are hard to put down. I have found most of them on eBay, trying to read them in the proper order.

Captain Semmes book about his adventures/battles during 1862-64 on the CSS Sumter and CSS Alabama

A frind who just sold his liva-a-board in NC loaded me up. His first was "Singlehanded Sailing" by Richard Henderson. Subtitle is the experiences and techniques of the lone voyagers.

Stay warm and safe. Chuck

Video: Captain Ron OK, not really for the purpose you stated, but he sure does a nice docking maneuver.

Books:
I'm currently reading, Storm Tactics Handbook by Lin and Larry Pardey. Very interesting and informative by people who have been there and done that in small boats.

I recently read: The Sailing Misadventures of the Wild Hair by Chip Giles. Chip was one of the original Conch Cruisers and I think you could find all the text on the old CC forum, but for only $1 on Kindle it's worth reading about a MacGregor 25 sailor's adventures. At least it makes me feel like I'm not the only one to have the occasional mishap.