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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Sailing Fundamentals Book

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jaclasch
Navigator

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USA
104 Posts

Initially Posted - 03/26/2010 : 13:41:05

I would appreciate recommendations for a beginners sailing book for junior high/high school-age young people.

James
1983 FK/TR
Tiempo Dorado

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 03/26/2010 : 14:04:48

[url="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Sailor-Learning-Art-Sailing/dp/0070571317"]The Complete Sailor[/url] by David Seidman. I've taught several people how to sail using this book as a basis. I think I'm on my third or fourth copy as they seem to disappear with the new sailor. Which is OK with me. My wife is reading her copy right now. Very-very approachable book, designed to explain not only the how, but enough of the why to make it interesting to read for anything from a complete novice to an ocean racer.

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Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3321 Posts

Response Posted - 03/26/2010 : 15:27:03

How about "Sailing for Dummies"?

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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5378 Posts

Response Posted - 03/27/2010 : 17:11:16

There are hundreds of books that will teach you to sail. Everybody's got their favorites. Here are some of the books I purchased lo these many years ago:

Gary Jobson - Sailing Fundamentals
This is a large format, simplified, step by step guide to what the parts of a sailboat are called and what they do. It allows you to learn by doing such as sailing off a mooring or dock, and returning to the dock, coming about and performing a COB drill

Alan Brown - Invitation to Sailing
This gets into a lot more detail about the parts of the boat, what they do and what they're called. It talks about wind and sail angle, apparent wind and has a whole section on racing and speed tips and tuning for the boat. Oriented toward dinghy sailing. It is instructional and has quiz questions at the back of each chapter to test your knowledge retention.

Bob Bond - The Handbook of Sailing
Highly illustrated.
Starts with basic sailing including reefing, anchoring and rules of the road.
Goes into advanced sailing with advanced tacking and gybing techniques, rough weather and tuning the rig.
Talks about cruising on larger boats with cruise planning, mooring, night sailing and handling storms and weather
Discusses navigation and piloting with charts, compasses, fog, passage planning and chartplotters
Discusses Meteorology
Maintenance and safety gear
Very complete in a small format

Tony Gibbs - Practical Sailing (with an Alcort Sunbird on the cover)
Large format book with simple illustrations. Very free spirited.

Some people may like some of these and not others. To try before buy, check your local public library [what a quaint idea]!

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jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 03/28/2010 : 12:07:12

Ivan Dedeham - Illustrated Sail & Rig Tuning is just that. We found it very helpful when we were getting started.
www.fernhurstbooks.co.uk

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jaclasch
Navigator

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USA
104 Posts

Response Posted - 03/29/2010 : 13:42:22

Thanks for the helpful responses. I found that the suggested books can not only be found at Amazon, but you can review contents and actual pages online.

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jbkayaker
Captain

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USA
299 Posts

Response Posted - 03/30/2010 : 07:09:33

Try a search for "sailing" on the Netflix.com website. You will find some beginner and intermediate sailing tutorials on DVD disks. With a $9 per month subscription you can have the disks sent to your home one at a time. Or get a short free trial subscription at
http://www.netflix-trial.com/ which will be enough to see two DVDs. If you keep each disk just one day you can view all four or five that would be useful in one month. Start with "Basic Sailing with Chesapeake Sailing School" and "Sailing With Confidence". The tutorial "Improve Your Sailing Skills" can be watched on your computer. I don't remember which video features some starlet that the guys are going gaga over.

Edited by - jbkayaker on 03/30/2010 07:22:56

aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 03/30/2010 : 11:03:52

Or you can download them on your xbox.

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Peregrine
Admiral

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830 Posts

Response Posted - 03/30/2010 : 11:36:40

All good suggestions however,
this NOT just my opinion the base of every sailing library must have is [url="http://www.amazon.com/Chapman-Piloting-Seamanship-Small-Handling/dp/1588167445/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269973421&sr=1-1"]Chapman Piloting & Seamanship [/url]

And [url="http://www.amazon.com/Annapolis-Book-Seamanship-3rd-Revised/dp/0684854201/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1"]The Annapolis Book of Seamanship[/url] by the incomparable John Rousmaniere.

Both are must haves.

*Underlined words are HOT links.

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Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 03/30/2010 : 13:10:31

They may seem a little intimidating at first, but I agree with John that they should be in every library. If its not in Chapman's, its probably not essential.

Jobson's is great for an introduction.

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crcalhoon
Captain

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USA
303 Posts

Response Posted - 03/30/2010 : 15:32:45

I have to agree with everybody re Chapman's as a reference. I'll bet we all recommend the sailing books we learned from. For me it was "Royce's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Sailing." I don't even know if it is still around.

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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5378 Posts

Response Posted - 03/30/2010 : 16:42:20

Funny, I have both Chapman's and John Rousmaneire's books, but I did not recommend these tomes for beginners, precisely as DaveB mentioned - heavy duty and very daunting. It's a job. Part of sailing is serious stuff, but for beginners, it should be fun.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 03/30/2010 : 19:03:40

Doesn't Chapman's come with our boats? I know I have three copies of it. However, as a starting book, I'd have to agree, it's pretty daunting, but it's a great reference book. I read it at anchor sometimes, and keep a copy by my bed.

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 10/15/2010 : 19:45:45

I'll revive this topic since someone else recently posted a link to it. I have Chapman and Don Casey's 6-in-1 Sailboat Maintenance Manual as standard references. But for easier cover-to-cover reading I checked out Jobson from the local library. I found myself referring to it constantly and renewed it up to my limit, so I went to the store to buy a copy. As I looked around I found the USCGA's Sailing Skills and Seamanship (6th ed), an almost identical text that I ended up buying instead because the graphics were much better done. I suggest that anyone consider it as a possible alternative to Jobson.

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skrenz
Captain

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USA
351 Posts

Response Posted - 10/18/2010 : 14:21:20

Practical Sailor just reviewed two geared specifically for beginning sailors:

Learn Sailing Right From U.S. Sailing (www.ussailing.org)
"Well organized and covering the main points with relative clarity, brevity, and simplicity. "Learn Sailing Right" is a well-structured primer that an effective instructor can put to good use. Its basic presentation, however, will limit its value outside the course.

Sailing Made Easy From American Sailing Association (www.american-sailing.com)
One of the better beginner texts we've seen in a while, this book presents an introduction to sailing in a way that is both pleasant to read and easy to digest. This is a good gift for novice crew, or other non-sailors who you want to introduce to your favorite pastime."

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