The Capable Cruiser [Hardcover]

Lin Pardey (Author), Larry Pardey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1995

A Dolphin Book Club "Main Selection, " The Capable Cruiser illustrates how successful cruising is the result of a combination of factors including a homogeneous crew, proper preparation, solid gear, regular maintenance and exemplary seamanship. This book is the sequel to The Self Sufficient Sailor. This is indeed the global bible of cruising sailors.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Pardeys motto is Ever Vigilant - at anchor, under sail, going aloft, all the time. Over the years their experience has allowed them to see a lot of mishaps. They are to be commended for being so candid about times when they themselves were less than vigilant. With this book they hope to make the reader more vigilant and as a result to make him more self-confident and his cruise safer and more fun. -- Vicki Carkhuff - Sail Magazine, 1989

From the Author

Lin and Larry Pardey have voyaged together for over 26 years, covering the equivalent of 5 circumnavigations on board their own self-built cutters, Seraffyn and Taleisin. Larry worked as first mate on a 140-ton, 85-foot schooner, Double Eagle, voyaging from Newport Beach, California, to Hawaii and back and along the Mexican coast before meeting Lin. He, along with Leslie Dyball, won the handicap prize for first overall in the exceptionally stormy 1974 Round Britain two-handed race. Lin and Larry have delivered two dozen boats across oceans and raced their own and others boats. Their interest in storm tactics has led them to research both older and modern methods of heaving-to, by talking and corresponding with sailors from dozens of countries, by working with Victor Shane at the Drag Device Data Base, and by testing both on their own boat in hurricane-force winds and on modern boats off the Cape of Storms, in South Africa.

Larry was selected as the winner of the International Oceanic Award, givenby the Royal Institute of Navigation under the sponsorship of the Little Ship Club of London and presented by Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, for the most meritorious voyage of over 2,000 miles using traditional methods of navigation. Larrys award was for 30 years of successful voyaging, covering more than 150,000 miles on 21 different vessels and using onlysextant and chronometer, including his 2,840 mile voyage in 1995 from Fernancdo do Noronha to Horta, in the Azores.

In March 1996, Lin was presented with the Ocean Cruising Club Award for the person who has done the most to foster and encourage ocean cruising in small craft and the practice of seamanship and navigation in all branches, at the Royal Thames Yacht Club, in London.

Articles by Lin and Larry have appeared in Sail Magazine, Cruising World, Woodenboat (USA) Practical Boat Owner, Yachting Monthly, Classic Boat Magazine (UK), Cruising Helmsman (Australia), South African Yachting, and Nautica (Brazil).

Their nine books have been published in both the United States and England; two have been translated into German and Japanese. Lin and Larry are currently writing a new book, The Cost Conscious Cruiser. Their most recent voyage took them to Scotland and Norway, and Taleisin is ready for another voyage, either west or north in the spring of 1998.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Paradise Cay Publications; 2nd edition (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964603624
• ISBN-13: 978-0964603622
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #926,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #73 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Outdoor Recreation > Sailing > Instructional

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These people make it possible, May 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Capable Cruiser (Hardcover)

I read in a sailing magazine that the Pardey's are known as the "enablers". So I bought this book, liked the title, cause that is what I want to be. This is the first sailing book that does bring cruising within my means, mentally and financially. I will definitely be reading more of the books written by this couple. Informative, easy to read and sometimes even funny. First rate and never out of date.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sound advice, February 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Capable Cruiser (Hardcover)

The Paradays allways have a sound oposite view in a world of more and more technical cruising and sailing where everything is supposed to be bought ready to use. This book is a collection of articles that deal with real world problems for the long distance cruiser. For example: how long does varnish last? I recommend this book to anyone that is interested in more than a race around the bouys.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic, March 29, 1999

By 

M. Mitchell (Lake Tahoe) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Capable Cruiser (Hardcover)

I haven't read other Pardey books so I can't compare with other titles. However, this book reflects there style (minimalist) and budget (ditto) which I think is applicable to many. Even if you want more luxury it is nice to know that people have done lots of crusing with much less. Book includes thoughts about choosing a cruising boat, equiping it, maintaining it, and actual curising and seamanship information.As a want-to-be soon hope-to-be cruiser I think the book had lots of good practical information. Doesn't cover everything but what it covers is well thought out and clearly explained. I intend to buy other Pardey books as well. Would I buy again. Yes!