Hi guys,
A book I recently bought may interest some of you with an interest in how things were done in former times is,"The Cruise of the Kate" By E. E. Middleton, who set out with basically no sailing experience to circumnavigate England in 1869.
The book is a fascinating description of his adventures in the days when there were no engines available for small yachts and no modern navigation equipment etc. Middleton himself was an upperclass British eccentric (his own assessment of himself). But what I found particularly interesting are not only the differences but the similarities of sailing for leisure 150 years ago and sailing now.
I got my copy from D.N. Goodchild, Philadelphia, via the net. It is a stiff cover book, beautifully printed on quality paper and includes maps and illustrations and is a pleasure to hold in the hand and read if you're a book person. Cost $22 Au.
Recommended!
The other two books I would highly recommend were actually written for children in the 1930s and 40s. I first read them when I was a kid. They probably have a lot to do with me still mucking around I'm boats. These two books are "The Coot Club" and " The Big Six" both written by Arthur Ransome. They are set on the Norfolk Broads on the east coast of England and follow the sailing adventures of a group of children during their summer holidays. The Coot club is the first of the two and I would recommend that being read first. Don't let the fact that these were written for children put you off, or the fact that they are set in the thirties, the sailing details are excellently written and just as relevant today as then.
Ransome's books are complete with maps and illustrations which catch the feel and landscape to the Norfolk Broads brilliantly. They inspired in me a love of that type of lake, canal, river and estuary environment that is reflected in the places I choose to sail my boats still.
In 2010, I took a trip to Europe and as part of that while I was in England I hired cruiser on the Norfolk Broads, a dream come true.
The landscape (waterscape?) that I first experienced through Ransome's books was just as I had first imagined it, some of the buildings and cottages are still there just like his illustrations from eighty years ago. Not only that but on the weekend the same types of yachts and sailing barges and wherries were out sailing and racing.
Both books recommended, my latest copies came from the Small Craft Advisor website.
I know it is just turning winter in the States, particularly in the north, so these books could be just the thing to curl up in front of the fire with during the coming cold spell.
Best wishes
Pete H
Thanks for the recommendations. Brenda and I are avid readers and with the cold winds starting to blow in Wisconsin the book shelf needs to be stocked.
Mike and B
The Unlikely Voyage of Jack De Crow: A Mirror Odyssey from North Wales to the Black Sea by A J. Mackinnon.
Highly recommend it, this book will put a smile on your face.
carl
Lest we forget "The Lone Voyager" by Joseph E. Garland which is the story of Howard Blackburn.
Bob23
Just finishing Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger and next is Two on a Big Ocean by Hal Roth and his wife.
Years ago I met and spoke with Hal and his wife at the All Sail Boat Show, in Chicago's Navy Pier. The Roth's have since pasted.
skip.