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looking for a new sailing novel

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77Gypsy
Captain

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USA
356 Posts

Initially Posted - 09/29/2004 : 15:22:50

any recommendations?

Steve
78 C25 SR/FK - Gypsy

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Randall
Navigator

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123 Posts

Response Posted - 09/29/2004 : 20:43:39

Don't have any suggestions on new novels, but I can recommend a non-fiction book that changed my life, if you can still find it somewhere.

Back around '67 I used to cut boring high school classes and go to the public library and learn about things I really enjoyed. I was perusing the non-fiction section and spotted a book called "Sea Gypsy" by Peter Tangvald. The title intrigued me, and I read it cover to cover twice. Although I lived in Cocoa, Florida and did a lot of surfing, I'd never been on, in or near a sailboat. But by God I was hooked on sailing after reading that book, and swore thereafter that my only goal in life was to sail around the world. Still haven't sailed more than 40 miles at a whack, but a circumnavigation is still on the "to do" list.

Tangvald was apparently quite the character. His boat was wood with rope rigging. He refused to have anything onboard that he didn't understand, so he had no engine, electronics, or head. He threw them all overboard, and sealed off all through-hulls. He understood wood hulls with copper sheeting on the bottom, but didn't trust stainless steel because he couldn't tell when it was getting dangerously corroded. All standing & running rigging was made of hemp rope, because he could tell when it was fraying.

Years later, when I was skipping a college course and hanging out in the library, I found a volume about great tales of sailing. The author critiqued other books, including Sea Gypsy, and dismissed it by saying: "a little Norwegian with a big ego tells how he did it." Maybe the book isn't as great as I remember, but I can truly say that it changed my life more than any other I've read before or since.

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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 09/29/2004 : 21:16:39

If you haven't read all the yarns by Tristan Jones... well, you should. "Ice" may be the best.
"My Old Man and the Sea" is pretty good... and the whole 'Serrafin' series by the Pardeys is fun.

Want something really inspirational? Then get "The Voyage of Northern Magic".
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0771082606/002-6548964-1874451?v=glance

It's about the adventures/growth/changes in a family that packed it up and circumnavigated the globe. Caution: this book that just might change your life.

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Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 09/29/2004 : 22:01:15

One again non-fiction, but I recommend "Sailing Around The World Alone", by Joshua Slocum. When I consider what he did in the context of his time period, I am always awe struck. The man was a giant among sailors.

-- Leon Sisson

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Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

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Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Response Posted - 09/29/2004 : 22:27:20

Courtney family novels by Wilbur Smith, especially Monsoon and Birds of Prey.

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aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2004 : 09:09:07

Steve,

I accidently posted some good reading suggestions on Karen Christens query about C255 upgrades. I got so excited about the bokks I've read I gorgot where I was on the site.

Al
GALlIVANT #5801

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2004 : 10:38:55

Pure fiction

The Riddle of the Sands, Erskine Childers - MUST READ

Part Fiction

Incredible Voyage, Ice, Heart of Oak, A Steady Trade, Tristan Jones

Non Fiction Cruising

Blown Away, You cant Blow Home Again, Herb Payson
By Way of the Wind, and Swan the 2nd Voyage, Jim Moore
Flirting with Mermainds, John Kretchsmeyer
Bahamas or Bust, Jim Baumgart and Family

How to

How to Sail Around the World, Hal Roth
Modern Cruising, Don Dodds

Non Sailing
High Adventure, Edmund Hillary

Edited by - JimB517 on 09/30/2004 20:21:16

nate
Navigator

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240 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2004 : 11:15:29

The whole series by Randy Wayne White. Doc Ford and his Hippie sidekick "Tomlinson" always getting into trouble.

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PZell
Admiral

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USA
548 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2004 : 12:19:34

The Last Grain Race....True from perspective of crew on square rigger from
UK to Australia and back around the horn in 1939 with illustrations. A couple of those ships are still around I think. Sterling Hayden wrote a good one, but I have forgotten the name.

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John V.
Admiral

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USA
559 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2004 : 12:29:29

I'm very fond of the writing of Jonathan Raban and two of his books are good sailing reads. "Coasting" a narative of his sail around England. And "Passage to Juneau" about a sail from Seatle to Alaska.

I just finished a fascinating book about the finding of an unknown German U-Boat off the Jersey coast. "Shadow Divers" gives an account of how two Atlantic wreck divers worked to identify U-689 and how they sought out relatives of the missing German sailors to give them closure on their missing brothers, fathers and husbands.

The project brought such notice to the two researchers that they now have spun off a great History channel series called "Deep Sea Dectives"

William F Buckley's "Racing Through Paradise" is enjoyable as is
"Sailing on a Spoonful of Water" by ? Coomer I think that's the author's last name.

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Catbird
Deckhand

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20 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2004 : 12:42:16

A fabulous true tale and a great read: Hard on the Wind
http://www.sheridanhouse.com/catalog/boatgeneral/hardonthewind04.html

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Lightnup
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1016 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2004 : 12:42:56

"At The Edge of Honor"
"Point of Honor"

Both by maritime historical novelist Robert Macomber. I read the first one straight through non-stop.

http://www.robertmacomber.com/

Steve

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John Mason
Admiral

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USA
687 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2004 : 14:39:28

Don't know what you've read already, but here are a few I've enjoyed.

Barrow's Boys - Fergus Fleming

Journeys through the Inside Passage - Joe Upton

Endurance - Alfred Lansing

Autobiography of a Seaman - Admiral Lord Cochrane

Adrift - Steven Callahan

Grey Seas Under, The Serpent's Coil, The Boat Who Wouldn't Float - Farley Mowat

Any by Tristan Jones

It's not sailing, but it's fun - The Island of the Sequined Love Nun - Christopher Moore

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jwilliams
Captain

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USA
357 Posts

Response Posted - 09/30/2004 : 23:54:10

Hiya,

You said "novel", I hope you meant a great read that you never wanted to end...

My favorite all time, in any genre, is Patrick O'Brian's 18-book series about the Napolianic-era British Navy, about Captn. Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin. I have read them at least four times and always take one with me travelling.

I read voraciously, sometimes three books at a time are going, right now its the Illiad, The Fifth Queen and The Surgeon's Mate (for the fourth time). Not bragging, just so you understand my tastes are varied and exercised. So by saying O'Brian's books are just the best 20th century work I have experienced, I have some license.

In close order after that would be the series each: Hornblower, C.S. Forrester; Ramage, Dudley Pope; Bolitho, Alexander Kent.

Individual novels: In the Heart of the Sea, Nathaniel Philbrick; The Riddle of the Compass, Amir Aczel; Monitor, James deKay; The Sea Wolf, Jack London; Two Years Before the Mast, Richard H. Dana;, Gipsy Moth Circles the World, Francis Chichester; Coming About, Susan Tyler Hitchcock; The Greatest Sailing Stories Ever Told, Christopher Caswell; Moby Dick, Herman Melville; Longitude, (loaned out, can't remember the author).

Have fun!

Jim Williams
Hey Jude C25fk 2958
SF Bay

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jwilliams
Captain

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USA
357 Posts

Response Posted - 10/01/2004 : 19:57:34

Paul,

Hayden's two books were Voyage: a novel of 1896, and Wanderer.

He is featured for his true-life exploits during a Gloucester Schooner race, the Bluenose vs the Gertrude L. Thebaud in The Greatest Sailing Stories Ever Told anthology edited by Christopher Caswell.

Jim

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John G-
Admiral

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793 Posts

Response Posted - 10/01/2004 : 21:25:49

Have you read any of Sam Llewellyn’s sailing murder mysteries?
They are fast, fun and have a lot of racing in awful conditions. His mysteries are like Dick France’s horse racing mysteries.
For non-fiction, Bernard Moitessier's "The Long Way" is a classic. It's the first single handed race around the world. His sailing tips are as useful today as they were then.

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Brooke Willson
Admiral

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USA
983 Posts

Response Posted - 10/01/2004 : 22:00:34

North to the Night, Alvah Simon. Non-fiction, but incredibly well written
Joe Coomer's novels are superb: Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God, Sailing in a Spoonful of Water (non-fiction, that).

Brooke

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lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 10/02/2004 : 00:23:47

"Kodoku [Solitude]" by Kenichi Horie. Non-fiction. Details his 1962 solo, non-stop crossing of the North Pacific from Osaka to San Francisco in a 19' sloop (cold-molded plywood hull with wood mast, they don't make 'em like that anymore!). The passage took almost 100 days, and the boat is on display at the San Fancisco Maritime Museum. Horie survived two severe multi-day storms in the Western Pacific, and made landfall within a few miles of the planned position, navigating with nothing more than a watch, sextant, almanac, and sight reduction tables. He brought no "modern" electronics (GPS didn't exist then, of course), and no auxiliary propulsion. Imagine a boat with even less useable interior volume than a West Wight Potter 19, made of plywood, crossing the biggest ocean on the planet! It's kind of amazing that he was able to carry enough provisions and water in a boat that small. "Kodoku" is a must read if you love sailing stories!

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Jared
1st Mate

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USA
70 Posts

Response Posted - 10/03/2004 : 17:55:22

Ditto that recommendation above. "Endurance" is without a doubt the most amazing story that I have ever read - at all that adventure jazz is the only thing my little brain reads. For Shackleton and his men to pull that off was absolutely amazing. This is a must read for the fans of non-fiction.

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5913 Posts

Response Posted - 10/03/2004 : 19:58:20

Recently, someone built a duplicate of the boat that Shackelton used, named the "James Caird," and used it to film a documentary about the voyage, and the boat sank during the filming. I have a 3 hr. 20 min. movie about Shackelton, that was done for A&E. It's a great story.

Also, someone mentioned a book called "Latitude." That book has also been made into about a 3 hr. 20 min. movie for A&E. It's about the invention of the first chronograph that was accurate enough to be used for celestial navigation, and it's a fascinating story. The "Latitude" movie is available at some public libraries. I haven't checked, but the Shackelton movie may also be available at public libraries.

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