Thanks Chris, but now I have to read something.

Gene

I'm not sure if we're talking literature or reference here.. but two of the best books I own are Don Casey books:

Sensible Cruising
This Old Boat


The last literaturish book I read was "Close to the Wind" by Pete Goss. That one was really good.

Before that I read Fastnet Force 10. Good sailor's account of the 79 Fastnet race.

Of course there is the standard "Sailing Around the World Alone". I've wondered about a certain part in that book when he refers to the gritty skipper of the Pinta.. was he referring to the boats Columbus took on his journey?

I love the Don Casey repair books:

"Look, any chimp can do fiberglass repair, come on I'll show you how easy it is. And while you're waiting for that to dry, let's replace all your dead-lights."

I just finished "Alone in the Carribean" by Fritz Fenger--he sailed the windward islands from south to north in 1914 in a canoe, sleeping on the beach.

His writing "evokes." The down side is he speaks of natives and colonials in language that would not be acceptable today.

Chris wrote:

Of course there is the standard "Sailing Around the World Alone". I've wondered about a certain part in that book when he refers to the gritty skipper of the Pinta.. was he referring to the boats Columbus took on his journey?

Yes that's supposed to be a ghost from the pinta one of the boats from Columbus' famous failed expedition to 'india'

Here's one to avoid. Honey I bought a boat. Not about sailing. About doing the "loop". Never the less, for as much as I want to learn about this adventure, I just couldn't get through this book.

I recently had cause to revisit my copy of The Marlinespike Sailorby Harvey Garrett Smith. This is a wonderfull book. Not only extremely informative, but the illustrations and the author's prose are each worth the price of admission. And I think this is one of the first boating books I ever bought, so I guess there is also some sentiment attached