10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Nice Collection of Sailing Stories, July 15, 2006
This review is from: Before the Wind: True Stories About Sailing (Paperback)
The author David Gowdey presents a 282 page collection of 25 sailing stories, weather guides, interviews, and poems - all of interest to sailors or people wishing to read about sailing. The stories are not really related to one another and as such this is not a compendium of stories that teach you how to sail or to be a better sailor. Rather it is a loose collection of interesting short stories and interviews about the sea and sailing divided into three sections, which covers general sailing, ocean trips, and some stories about racing. It covers small boats to large ocean racers, preparing for trips, crew psychology, cooking, weather, the appeal of the sea, poems, etc. He acts as an "editor" and writes a short four page introduction and injects a one page map of the world showing some of the routes outlined in the sailing stories. There are neither an index or a bibliography for further readings. As such the book merits just 2-3 stars for effort in my opinion, but in fact is closer to 5 stars in terms of reading enjoyment. All the stories can be found elsewhere but the author puts them into one book - and for that reason the book is popular and a good read.
For the most part it is an interesting read and vary varied. Each story is different and the writing is in general excellent. He has the story of "Lipton's Last Challenge" of the America's Cup by his boat Shamrock in 1930, the story of the Bluenose, interviews with Ted Turner and Dennis Connor, comments by a competitor of Dennis Connor - that is actually much more telling and positive about Connor than his interviews, preparing for an ocean crossing, Clare Francis crossing the north Atlantic alone, a story called "Cousteau: The Poet" - which gives many insights about the man, a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson, and one story about the loss of a boat, plus many more.
An excellent short book that I would recommend to sailors or simply people wanting to read about sailing. I wish it had a bibliography, an index, and I found it too short. Having said that, the book does inspire the reader to find more similar stories.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Selection, November 8, 2006
This review is from: Before the Wind: True Stories About Sailing (Paperback)
Throughly enjoyed the selection of sailing stories. In fact one story(of a novice sailor taking his family for a sailing holiday) was so good I read to my wife and then had my daughter read to the family over dinner one night and we all laughed and reflected how real(and sometimes close to home) the experience was.
Amazing range of stories and hardly a dude amoungst them. Many very poignant, like the family on an ocean crossing experience who sailed into an island harbour against better practice and judgement and it cost them there yacht. The range from Americas cup to day sailors and solo
yachtwoman is wide , but it works. An easy read. Thank you. New Zealand day sailor
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I have read better sailing books, October 30, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Before the Wind: True Stories About Sailing (Paperback)
I love books about the sea and sailing. 'Before the Wind' has been a slow and difficult read for me. It's as good as each short story.
I have found more enjoyment in Kinder's 'Ship of Gold', Hemmingeay-Douglas' 'Cape Horn', and Alvah Simon's 'North to the Night'.
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