The Sailing Book Thread (Educational Books)

[Maine Sail]

Over the last few weeks I have been cataloging my marine books so when I go to buy a new one I don't come up with more doubles as I have done before.

I would like to start a list of educational/how to sailing books first. I have purposely left off cruising guides, adventure and fiction from this list.

Below is the list of educational boating books I have but I know I still lack many. Let's build the ultimate list of educational sailing books!!

Please just add the title and author to keep the thread as clean as possible.

How To / Performance
Boat Owners Mechanical & Electrical Manual – Nigel Calder
Cruising Handbook – Nigel Calder
Marine Diesel Engines – Nigel Calder
How To Read A Nautical Chart – Nigel Calder
Refrigeration for Pleasure Boats – Nigel Calder
Cruising Sailboat Kinetics – Danny Greene N.A.
The Annapolis Book of Seamnship - John Rousmaniere
Modern Boat Maintenance – Sheridan House
Sail Better – Roger Marshall
The Klutz Book of Knots – John Cassidy
Chasing The Wind – Hal Roth
The Ocean Sailing Yacht – Donald Street Jr.
The Ocean Sailing Yacht Volume 2 – Donald Street Jr.
Crescent Color Guide to Sailing – Bob Mathias
The Boating Bible – Jim Murrant
Upgrading The Cruising Sailboat – Daniel Spurr
The Fiberglass Boat Repair Manual – Alan H. Vaitses
How Boat Things Work – Charlie Wing
The Love of Sailing – Douglas Phillips-Birt
Sailing Made Easy –Rufus G. Smith
Sailing In Windy Weather – Richard Hendersen
Sell Up & Sail – Laurel & Bill Copper
Learn To Sail In A Weekend – John Driscoll
This is Down Wind Sailing – John Oakley
Better Sailing – Richard Henderson
Good Boat Keeping – Zora & David Aiken
Everything Sold in Marine Supply Stores – Steve Ettlinger
Fiberglass Boats Revised / Fitting Out, Maintenance, Repair - Hugo DuPlessis
Passport To Worldband Radio – Graham Willson
Trouble Shooting Marine Diesels – Peter Compton
Sailing An Informal Primer – Richard Ulian
A Guide to Small Boat Emergencies – John M. Waters Jr.
The 12 Volt Bible – Miner Brotherton
The Radar Book - Kevin Monahan
Radar For Mariners - David Burch
Basic Keel Boat – US Sailing Certification Series
Chart #1 USA Nautical Chart Symbols Abbreviations & Terms – US DOD & US DOC
Basic Sailing – Hearst Marine Books
Weekend Navigator – Bruce Fraser
This Is Boat Tuning For Speed – Fred Imhoff & Lex Pranger
Sailing: A Sailors Dictionary – Henry Beard Roy McKie
Speed Sailing – Gary Jobson & Mike Toppa
The Racing Cruiser – Richard Henderson
Commisioning & Decommisioning – Practical Sailor Library
Maintenance & Reoairs - Practical Sailor Library
Do It Yourself Improvement Projects - Practical Sailor Library
The Essential Sailor – Jim Saltonstall
GPS Made Easy – Lawrence Letham
How to Buy The Best Sailboat – Chuck Gustafson
Sailing For Beginners – Moulton H. Farnham
Boat Data Book – Ian Nicolson
This Is Sailing – Richard Creagh-Osbourne
Sailing In The Fog – Roger F. Duncan
Ted Brewer Explains Sailboat Design – Ted Brewer
Modern Marlinspike Seamanship – William P. MacLean
Bowditch’s Coastal Navigation – Nathanial Bowditch
Sailboarding Basic & Advanced Techniques – Peter Brockhaus & Ulrich Stanchiu
Ready About – Garry Hoyt
Practical Boat Buying – Practical Sailor
Better Sailing – Bob Fischer
Spinnaker – R. ”Bunty” King
The Elements of Seamanship – Roger C. Taylor
Sailing Tips – William M. Burr Jr.
Sailing Big On A Small Sailboat – Jerry Caldwell
Modern Cruising Under Sail – Don Dodds
Sailing Illustrated - Patrick Royce
Why Didn’t I Think of That – John & Susan Roberts
Sailboat Electrics Simplified – Don Casey
Propeller Handbook - Dave Gerr
The New Laser Sailing – Dick Tillman & Dave Powlison
Basic Coastal Navigation – Frank J. Larkin
Brightwork The Art of Finishing Wood - Rebecca Wittman
Piloting & Dead Reckoning – H. H. Shufeldt & G. D. Dunlap
The Big Book of Marine Electronics – Frederick Graves

 

[Stu Jackson]

More Books - a Great Idea for the Technically Challenged

Self Steering for Small Craft - John Letcher (out of print, but a classic)
Sailing Illustrated - Patrick Royce (great for small boat beginners)
Sailing The Bay - Kimball Livingston (San Francisco Bay)
Ample Power Primer, Living on 12 Volts & Wiring for 12 V - Ample Technologies
Sail Trim & More Sail Trim - SAIL Magazine

 

[Ross]

Re: More Books - a Great Idea for the Technically Challenged

The Practical Pilot by Leonard Eyges
Emergency Navigation by David Burch
Seaworthyness: The forgotten factor by C J Marchaj
Designers Notebook by Ian Nicolson
From a Bare Hull by Frenc Mate`
Practical Yacht Joinery by Fred Bingham
Propeller Handbook by Dave Gerr

Theses are the better books in my list that don't duplicate those already listed.

 

[Tim R.]

Heavy Weather Sailing - K. Adlard Coles
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240335852&sr=1-2Introduction to Radar Systems - Merrill Skolnik
The Finely Fitted Yacht - Ferenc Mate
Any of the tips and tricks books from various sources(Sail, etc)

 

[sailingdog]

The Complete Sailor—David Seidman
The Nature of Boats—Dave Gerr
This Old Boat—Don Casey
Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach—Don Casey, et al.
Boater’s Bowditch—Richard K. Hubbard
The Cruising Multihull—Chris White
Multihull Seamanship—Mike McMullen
The Barefoot Navigator—Jack Lagan
Self-Steering for Small Sailcraft—John S. Lechter
The Sextant Handbook—Bruce Bauer
Celestial Navigation in the GPS Age—John Karl
The Cost Conscious Cruiser—Larry and Lin Pardey
The Capable Cruiser—Larry and Lin Pardey
The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice—Brion Toss

 

[BobD17833]

Re: So, great lists

How to Sail books ( with tuning as a bonus)?

There is only one.

Sail and Rig Tuning - by Ivar Dedekam ISBN-10: 1898660670

BobD
Boston

 

[Capt. Kermie]

Is there a way to get an in depth overview of each book so that one can have a better idea as to what they are ordering online? I would have to visit a book store to see what I am buying for most of those suggestions.

 

[Ross]

Re: More Books - a Great Idea for the Technically Challenged

The Practical Pilot by Leonard Eyges
This is a very readable work on coastal navigation with a minimum of math and jargon.
Emergency Navigation by David Burch
Provides a comprehensive way the figure out how to get to a safe port when you have lost most or all of the modern tools.

Seaworthyness: The forgotten factor by C J Marchaj
Very technical work on the charictaristics and behavior of boats in all manner of sea conditions.
Designers Notebook by Ian Nicolson
Filled with non dimentioned drawings of good ideas and methods for building beyond a bare hull.
From a Bare Hull by Frenc Mate`
Takes you through the step by step process of converting a bare hull into a yacht.
Practical Yacht Joinery by Fred Bingham
The title pretty much defines the content, discribes the preferred methods of boat joinery.
Propeller Handbook by Dave Gerr
A very technical work on the how's and why's of propellers and the details required to match the propeller to the power train and the boat.

I hope that this helps a little.
Sometimes Amazon gives the equivilant of the inside flap of the dust jacket in their book offerings.
I was able to find many books at the public library and after reading them decided to own some of them. I have found quite a few in used book stores.

 

[Ariel]

A few more that I find helpful:

Ocean Racing & Offshore Yachts - Peter Johnson

The Offshore Racer - Theodore Jones

Sail Power - Wallace Ross

Desirable & Undesirable Characteristics of Offshore Yachts - Technical Committee of the Cruising Club of America

Skene's Elements of Yacht Design - Francis Kinney

Piloting, Seamanship & Small Boat Handling - Chapman

Yacht Style - Dan Spurr

Brightwork The Art of Finishing Wood - Rebecca Wittman

Dave
s/v Ariel

 

[sailormanbigd]

hey Mainsail, can i be in your Will for the book collection? Technical how to books are all I read, except sailing rags of course.Patrick

 

[Stu Jackson]

More

Dutton's and Chapman's

These are two very large coffee table-sized books that cover the basics of all boating.

Cruising Handbook - Nigel Calder

If I had only two books I could take with me, I'd choose both of Calder's books, this and his Boatowner's Manual

Is there a way to get an in depth overview of each book so that one can have a better idea as to what they are ordering online? I would have to visit a book store to see what I am buying for most of those suggestions.

In many cases, the titles of the books define pretty much what they cover. While many libraries do not handle these specialized books (a great suggestion for starters, though) then go to a West Marine or other nautical book store and look around.

Of course, many books overlap their subjects, but there is always something new to learn. And rereading them always brings up something new.

So much for the original request to just add the titles and authors.

 

[Ross]

Re: More

The Handbook for The Non-Macho Sailor by Katie Burke
American Small Sailing Craft by Howard I. Chapelle

I shall add two titles each day until the rest of you guys pay attention.

 

[caguy]

Another great idea Mainsail!
My favorite and inspired me the most was Sailing Trilogy by Hal Roth.
I'm not sure of the individual titles but it included 3 short books of his and Margaret's circumnavigation of the Pacific, their passing of Cape Horn, and the Longest Race.
When this thread is done if someone could compile them and store them in the Sailboat knowledge bade they will not disappear with this thread.

 

[Maine Sail]

Another great idea Mainsail!
My favorite and inspired me the most was Sailing Trilogy by Hal Roth.
I'm not sure of the individual titles but it included 3 short books of his and Margaret's circumnavigation of the Pacific, their passing of Cape Horn, and the Longest Race.
When this thread is done if someone could compile them and store them in the Sailboat knowledge bade they will not disappear with this thread.

I have those books but I classified those as more adventure. Though many adventure books have segments of educational stuff I wanted to stick to books specifically addressing fixing or specifically written as educational/performance books.

Once I catalog my adventure/fiction/cruising guides I'll start another thread but that list is longer than the educational books..

Unfortunately some books like Hal's or the Pardey's books can sometimes go either way..

 

[Ross]

There is wisdom to be gained from many adventure and fiction works but you have to sift a lot of sand to find it. tristan Jones was an accomplished sailor and incorporated much of his experience in his writtings. Jack London's "Sea Wolf" can give good information about high latitude sailing and ship jury rigging but I wouldn't recommend them as reference books.

 

[leftwing24]

While I do own a suprising number of these excellent books, I don't see the very first sailing book I ever bought.

My buddy, who is an experienced sailor (but not such a great teacher), tried to teach me how to sail by pacing me in the Whaler and shouting instructions. He did teach me to capsize. Three times. Although knowing how to right the boat is an important lesson, he almost drove me away from sailing entirely.

I went out and bought "Sailing For Dummies" and taught myself how to sail. I've always had good luck with the "...For Dummies" books; not because I'm a dummy, but because they usually do an excellent job explaining or describing complex subjects. I highly recommend this book for any beginner sailor. It is written by Peter and JJ Isler, who, between them, have an Olympic medal, two America's Cup championships, three World Championships, and are (or were) considered to be two of the best racing sailors in the world. I read the book cover to cover, went back to the lake, and successfully sailed the boat.

 

[kenn]

leftwing, ya beat me. I was going to plug "Sailing for Dummies" too. I don't own it but I've scanned it and read parts. Quite a decent beginners book.

More than a few of the boaters who crossed my path last year would have benefited from it. Assuming they could read, of course.

 

[ozarkray]

Sailing for Dummies

As a beginning dummy myself, I got a copy of "Sailing for Dummies" which came along with the boat I bought. Read it cover to cover. When I got out on the water, I found that the most important parts of actually sailing were not covered in the book. Things like "loading the jib", using the block and car for the jib sheets, and using the traveler. Most of what I learned in my first year of sailing, came from talking with other experienced sailors who were able to help me get the rigging tuned and all the lines in the proper places. I don't think that I would recommend "Sailing for Dummies" as a good book to learn from.
Thanks,
Ray

 

[sailingdog]

Try Dave Seidman's THE COMPLETE SAILOR instead.

As a beginning dummy myself, I got a copy of "Sailing for Dummies" which came along with the boat I bought. Read it cover to cover. When I got out on the water, I found that the most important parts of actually sailing were not covered in the book. Things like "loading the jib", using the block and car for the jib sheets, and using the traveler. Most of what I learned in my first year of sailing, came from talking with other experienced sailors who were able to help me get the rigging tuned and all the lines in the proper places. I don't think that I would recommend "Sailing for Dummies" as a good book to learn from.
Thanks,
Ray

 

[Al - s/v Persephone]

Not yet mentioned

I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned these, which I've found very worthwhile:

(1) Steve and Linda Dashew's

Practical Seamanship
Surviving the Storm
Mariner's Weather Handbook
or
The CDROM contairing all these plus their
Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia
(all at setsail.com)
​

(2) USCG Small-Boat Seamanship Manual

(3) Alan Watt's excellent books on practical weather forecasting for sailors (by a meteorologist who is one) with all the color photos of the cloud formations by which one can understand what's coming.

(4) Van Dorn's outstanding Oceanography and Seamanship (by an oceanographer who is a sailor) discussing sea-state forecasting and the oceanographic principles behind it.

(5) Richard Henderson's Strong Wind Sailing

(6) Auxiliary Sail Vessel Operations by G. Andy Chase

Fair Winds,
Al - s/v Persephone