Books on Sailing

[Scott B]

After purchasing our first sailboat, H33, I am looking for a couple of good books to add to my knowledge. I have been sailing for the past 25 years on everything from a windsurfer to a CS33 and can confidently handle the H33. (although that is yet to be proven once the ice melts) Most of of my knowledge has been seat of the pants or passed on from others.What I am looking for is something that will explain the terms like topping lift etc. that I am not familiar with, i.e. I can pull up the main, set the sail and get the boat to go but don't always know what or why I did it.I have ordered Don Guilette's book on sail trim and I thought I'd get the Chapman Piloting and Seamanship book. Any other books you reccommend to add to my reading list??

 

[Peter]

new complete sailing manual

One I always liked was the New Complete Sailing Manual by Steve Sleight. Chapman always recommended.

 

[Steve677]

Believe it or not...

Sailing for Dummies is actually pretty good...

 

[Roger (Ninette Manitoba)]

complete your collection with

Annapolis Book of SeamanshipIt is a complete sailing encyclopedia. champman has both power and sail, Annapolis is sail only.

 

[Scott B]

Thanks

Thanks, I'll check those out.Scott

 

[maccauley123]

Books

I would recommend Chapman's Piloting at least to start. Also the ASA sailing manual Sailing Fundamentals by Gary Jobson.One that was recommended to me by an old salt and I have found really good is The Elements of Seamanship by Roger Taylor. A thin volume but jam packed with well written, practical advice on how to be a good seaman.

 

[newsailor06]

Two of the three...

Have already been mentioned. Annapolis Book of Seamanship, and the ASA Class Manual. I would add a book titled "Sail Power"...at least that is what I think the title is. It has been recommended by more than one other person that I know that sail.

 

[48dodge]

Sailing for Dummies

I agree this book is actually much better than I expected. I bought it years ago when I first started sailing. Written by JJ and Peter Isler, it contains info for the beginner, but also up to some advanced sailing techniques and racing. Also bought "The Everything Sailing Book" at the same time by Michael and Nikki Smorenburg. Good info there too, not quite as good as the Dummies book, though. "Everything" is more of a beginner book.

 

[Stu Jackson]

The Best of Sail Trim

there are a couple of books that Sail magazine has published that are very interesting once you get past the basics.There are also some very good websites on sail trim, like North sails. try a Google on sail trim.

 

[CalebD]

Steve Colgate's "Fundamentals of Sailing,

Cruising and Racing". It is a bit old but the wind and sea have not changed much since it was written. Even if you are not interested in racing your sailboat it is helpful to know some of the tricks that racers use to get the most speed out of their boat on all points of sail. Easy read and quite informative."Boat repair maual" by Buchanan is a good reference guide for many of the repair jobs you will be doing. Written by a Brit so you may need to decipher the words but the diagrams help quite a bit. "Shipshape" by Ferenc Mate. Actually a good and fun read by a Frenchman with a sense of humor.Brian Toss' "Riggers Apprentice" as you will be repairing things.If you want to learn to navigate by the stars and planets than anything relating to Bowditch will help you. Owning a sextant might help too.On the lighter side anything by Bernard Moitissier or Tristan Jones will keep you interested in the months spent not sailing. Then there are all the books by Patrick O'Brian if you like historical fiction. Do not overlook Joshua Slocum either; his stories are short and just amazing: "Sailing Alone Around the World". Read, learn, enjoy.

 

[Scott B]

lots more

Lots more to check out, thanks.Looks like Annapolis is a favorite, and the ASA manual.Scott.

 

[gpd955]

Another Great Book

The Complete Sailor by David Seidman. Excellent book. Well written and illustrated. Everything is to the point and the illustrations explain the text very good!Jack Mannings/v Victim of FateAtlantic City, NJ

 

[Fred]

An old standby is Royce's Sailing Illustrated

It's a paperback. I imagine Amazon has a udes copy for a buck or two.

 

[Joe]

Annapolis Book of Seamanship

should be your number one purchase....

 

[Liam]

Tristan Jones

Most everything by Tristan Jones is worth reading.

 

[SailJunkie]

Wow, great books, AND....

I own them all (yes, even Sailing for Dummies which is excellent!). I even have a John R(can't spell his last name...compliments of North U) autographed version of the Annapolis book of Seamanship. Another set of books to look into would be anything from Farenc Mate' (not sure if THAT is spelled right). His books are both helpful and humorous.

 

[Franklin]

library

Don't forget to check the library first. The Houston library circuit here has a lot of books on sailing including the "Sailing for Dummies". I'm currently reading "Heavy Weather Sailing" by K. Adlard Coles from the library and it's amazing the amount of real stories and information in it. The funniest story I think is on Coles' first ocean race, after sailing across the English Channel, he anchored in a protective harbor to escape the nasty weather to wait until the tide changed. They then set sail 6 hours later only to win the race while others tried to sail straight through.