Below are books that should be of great interest to our members. We encourage you to review, purchase, and discuss. The books reflect the experiences of sailing colleagues, tell fabulous stories, and will prepare you for any adventure at sea.
Note that purchasing and payment will be through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or PayPal and shipping will occur outside of Offshore Passage Opportunities.
This insighful book provides a comprehensive guide to help you identify and equip the boat that best suits your needs.
Well-known boating writer Charles Doane unravels the complexity of cruising sailboat design and explains the fundamentals and the ramifications of each design decision. In easy-to-understand terms, Doane explains theoretical aspects of design, pragmatic issues like keel shape and berth configuration, pros and cons of various construction methods and materials, outfitting, propulsion, rigging and much more.
Charlie has worked as a boating journalist since 1986, including stints on staff at SAIL, Cruising World, and Offshore. Currently he is executive editor for SAIL. His freelance work has appeared in Ocean Navigator, Blue Water Sailing, the New York Times, Sailing, Yachting Monthly, Yachting World, Good Old Boat, and other seemingly reputable publications.
Exposed to boats at an early age during summers spent on the Maine coast, Charlie escaped from a brief period of servitude at a Boston law firm and started roaming the planet's oceans in sailboats in 1991. To date he has logged over 45,000 miles offshore, including six transatlantic passages. In addition to several lesser craft, he has owned and maintained three different cruising sailboats: Crazy Horse, a Pearson Alberg 35 yawl; Sophie, a Golden Hind 31; and Lunacy, a Tanton 39 cutter.
Stifled by magazine editors and publishers for much of his career, Charlie now seeks to pollute the Internet with his unfiltered musings on cruising sailboats, the sport of sailing in general, and the very watery planet we live upon, which for some weird reason everyone calls Earth.
It's here at last - the much anticipated book that Ed promised us! Safer Offshore is the ultimate guide to on-the-water troubleshooting and emergency management. Endorsed by the likes of Tania Aebi, Herb McCormack, and Hank Schmidt as a unique resource for sailors, it describes in great detail how to manage equipment failures, injuries, and disasters at sea. It has been said that "sailors have no business on the water without the ability to cope with whatever the elements throw at them". This book provides just that.
No other book contains information for survival so concisely written and thorough. Safer Offshore gives advice on management of a wide range of possible disasters. It's contents include chapters to manage:
Further Offshore is Ed Mapes' second book, has been released by Sheridan House Publishers.
This book represents a compendium of sailing and passagemaking information, taking the reader from the earliest decision-making on boat selection and outfitting through Ed's program of preparation called the "Voyage Project". All that a serious sailors needs to prepare for a voyage is included, taking the reader to departure day.
Once at sea, the book details what it takes to conduct an offshore passage or cruise, all the way to making landfall in a foreign country. Further Offshore is 344 pages of sailing information, with pictures and diagrams to illustrate the text. It is available in book stores, the internet, directly from the publisher, and at this web site. Order your copy now, and let the learning begin!
Ready to Sail was written by Captain Ed Mapes, translating his experience in offshore deliveries into a well written, highly informative volume. This is the only book that descrubes Ed Mapes' method of inspecting vessels. Ready to Sail details the extensive, systemmatic inspection procedure developed used by delivery captains, offshore racers, passage makers, and inland sailors alike in their preparations for the water. Very comprehensive checklists are included for all to use in their own inspections.
Ready to Sail goes on to point out numerous defects found on vessels, and details the procedures used in their repair. The book also describes gear necessary for safe, secure voyaging, along with chapters devoted to preparation of the boat and the crew to ensure a thorough approach to readiness.
The appendices alone are invaluable, with all inspection checklists, list of crew clothing and gear, responsibilities of the crew, pre-sail discussions and crew instruction, and complete spare parts and tools lists. Ready to Sail will guide all sailors in preparing their boats and crews for sailing, whether on inland lakes or the oceans.
Ed Mapes has transformed 30 years and 97,000 sea miles of adventure into book form so that his readers can learn and apply that information to their own sailing.
These books help sailors select their own sailing vessels, add appropriate equipment, inspect for safety and provision. They learn how to select and train crewmembers and plan sailing routes, and prepare for spending time on the water. At sea, they're able to conduct long passages in a professional, seamanlike fashion to make landfall safely - monitoring and maintenance, weather forecasting, storm avoidance and coping with heavy weather conditions, navigation, anchoring, and much more. You'll learn how to cope with emergency situations that can happen to even the best-prepared mariners, from jury-rigging for mast failure to fashioning a makeshift steering apparatus.
From running aground or treating a serious medical condition to abandoning ship and surviving extended time in a life raft - it's all covered in the fine books above.
