Messing About in Boats for 80 years with Jack Sutphen
By Jack Sutphen
92 pages, $28
Classic Yacht Foundation, 2007
Books written for a small audience are no less worthy because of it. Take Messing About in Boats for 80 Years with Jack Sutphen, Sutphen having been speed-test partner to Dennis Conner’s America’s Cup campaigns. His recollection of a 1986 exhibition race explains why Cup veterans are skeptics: “In 5 to 6 knots it became apparent that Liberty was faster than the new boat. Malin [Burnham] and I were on Liberty and Malin cranked in some extra trim tab and we slowed Liberty so Dennis could nose us out. The good news was, as soon as we got to Hawaii with Stars & Stripes 85 and Liberty, in anything over 10 knots, 85 was faster.”
Add a few months and we have Conner recapturing the Cup from Australia. The title explains the rest of the book. As a perennial Pacific Cup Class winner on San Diego Bay, Jack, at 90, was still out there in 2008.
Kimball Livingston
Celestial Navigation in the GPS Age
By John Karl
280 pages, $24.95
Paradise Cay Publications, 2007
Few things are more satisfying than navigating by the sun and stars, but for most sailors celestial navigation remains an enigma. Celestial Navigation in the GPS Age removes much of the mystery. The book begins with the fundamental concepts, including a particularly lucid explanation of the navigation triangle, as well as sight reductions and the sextant. Additional topics, some not even found in Bowditch, are also covered, including use of lunar distances to calculate longitude—without a chronometer. Perhaps the most common application of celestial in today’s era of GPS is the use of amplitudes and azimuths to check compass error, so it’s a bit surprising that this topic is only briefly discussed. All the material in the book is interesting, much of it is useful, and some of it is, as the author admits, impractical. In order to gain maximum benefit, the reader should be comfortable with basic algebra. Although this might not be the first book from which to learn the basics, it is a must read for the serious student of celestial navigation.
Steven Henkind
The Chronicles of the Schooner Lusty
By Mike Williams
440 pages, $24.95
http://lusty1.com
What a joy! This book is a pure delight. Three decades ago, when the world was a different place, author Mike Williams skippered an old Alden schooner on a voyage that eventually became a six-year circumnavigation. He relates the trials, tribulations, and jubilations aboard Lusty, an aptly named vessel, it seems, given the penchant of the crew—five young guys from Seattle—for picking up ladies along the way. Part of the appeal for me, aside from the
sailing adventures, is Williams’s
descriptions of places I too have visited over the years. Privately published and available directly from the author, this book comes highly recommended.
Mark Corke
Boat Green
By Clyde W. Ford
227 pages, $17.95
New Society Publishers, 2008
While this book is no page turner, you won’t want to miss it. In Boat Green: 50 Steps Boaters Can Take to Save Our Waters, Clyde Ford provides all the information you need to sail responsibly—and save money doing it. This book covers the spectrum, from biofuels and alternative energy to maintenance and boating with pets. In each section Ford covers specific environmental issues and provides a list of possible steps—of varying difficulty—to take to address them. Can biodiesel save you money? What are the disadvantages of ethanol-enhanced gasoline? Is solar power for you? Ford’s approach is practical and unbiased, and he makes green boating both easy and logical.
Rebecca Waters
After You, Mr. Lear
By Maldwin Drummond
237 pages, $24.95
Sheridan House, 2007
The subtitle of Maldwin Drummond’s new book—“In the Wake of Edward Lear in Italy”—tells us what to expect from its entertaining words and lavish illustrations. Drummond, his wife, Gilly, and nephew Maurice sailed their wooden sloop, Gang Warily, across the English Channel and down through the French canals to the Mediterranean, where their two-year voyage along the French and Italian coasts ended in Salerno. Their odyssey was planned to retrace the places visited by the English poet, writer, and artist Edward Lear 150 years earlier. While Lear is best known for his nonsense verse, he was also a painter of French and Italian landscapes.
The combination of sailing narrative, Lear biography, and travel journal is hard to resist. If you’ve cruised the Med, are (or even are not) a sailor, or simply enjoy well-written prose describing some of the most beautiful places on the planet and the life of a most interesting man, then you’re in for a treat.
Mark Corke
Lessons from My Good Old Boat
By Donald Launer
258 pages, $23.95
Sheridan House, 2007
As a voracious reader of all things boating, I was looking forward to reading this book, but came away somewhat disappointed. It’s a collection of articles that Donald Launer, a contributing editor for Good Old Boat magazine, wrote for this and other magazines, including SAIL. Many writers follow this path and take advantage of the opportunity to expand on the topics covered in the limited space of a magazine. The author’s breadth of knowledge gained from a lifetime of sailing is evident throughout the book, but additional photos and diagrams would have been helpful in explaining the more technical points. This book does contain some nuggets of wisdom, however, and the cover price is modest. It does contain useful information to keep handy on your boat’s bookshelf.
Mark Corke
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