Freebie books for a winter read

[Pete H]

Hi Guys,

Minus five here this morning (that's nine below in Fahrenheit), still it was a nice sunny day, but it is going to get colder and wetter before it gets better. However winter is  a good time to curl up with a couple of books, these are some I've come across recentltly.

The Complete Trailer Sailor by Brian Gilbert.
Subtitled "How to buy,Equip, and Handle small cruising sail boats", this is an up to date new book on the subject. It's available from Amazon for $19 or so, but if you google it you can download an eBook version for free.

While on the topic of free, (my favourite price), this next one might interest you also, this is an account by Webb Chiles of his circumnavigation in an open Drascombe Lugger, in 1980 I think.
This is available as a free download from the author's website, just google him.

This next one really surprised me, it was published in 1901 and the surprise was just how relevant lots of the information is to us small boat sailors nowadays. Knots, rope work, weather, boat handling, etc. Called "Small Boat Handling on Sea and River" by E. F. Knight.
This one is a freebie from iTunes on your iThing.

I realize you guys are just starting your summer sailing season but you might find a quiet evening at anchor when a good free book could help send you off to sleep.
Cheers, best wishes for the season,

Frozen Pete.

[skip1930]

Longest day light in the year here in North America and your -9 deg F. Wow. I don't care to live where you live that's for sure.

Well in the 1900's everything it seamed moved by sail boat or steamer and I can under stand that more information on the subject of boating has been lost then ever will be learned now-a-day.
Stay warm. Read a good book.

Oh, just came off the barge Wednesday and off loaded at BayShip Building in Sturgeon Bay. One 205 foot CARBON FIBER YACHT hull for Palmer Johnson Yachts to complete. Unfinished it came from Norway. Wonder who the buyer is? So I guess PJ's is going to learn how to glue boats together.

skip.

[Salty19]

It's the dead of winter in Australia, skip. Shortest day of the year in the southern hemisphere

[skip1930]

Yes I know.
Tilted the furthest away from a direct shot from the sun, even though the sun is the closest in winter it can be to the Southern most part of the globe. The rays glance back out into space. Luckily.

skip.

[Pete H]

Sorry Skip, my mistake.

It is cold here at the moment, but not that cold thankfully.  My mistake, apologies. Looking at what I wrote I meant 9 degrees  F below freezing, so about 23 degrees F (-5 Celsius). Cold, but not as bad as -9 F!

The temperature only drops that low overnight on clear frosty nights like last night. Bird baths frozen solid in the morning but by 10 or 11 AM a nice sunny day. This morning we were able to sit outside in the sun at our favorite coffee shop uptown and chat to all the passersby. The coffee does get cold quickly though.

Our climate is actually quite mild, we don't get frozen lakes or rivers and definitely no sea ice. Where I live we don't get snow either, except on the highest mountain ranges. But for me it is just a bit too cold for sailing.

Regards,

Pete