The Captains' Guide to Liferaft Survival [Hardcover]

Michael Cargal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 1990

The Captains' Guide to Liferaft Survival contains everything a castaway needs to know to survive in a liferaft and get rescued as quickly as possible. Filled with useful experience from the author's 20 years as a captain, the book draws on the latest research in equipment, techniques, and emergency medicine.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Cargal is a writer and ship's captain who has sailed the seas for over twenty years.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 204 pages
• Publisher: Sheridan House (January 25, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0924486007
• ISBN-13: 978-0924486005
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,987,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Keep this book dry at all times!, January 20, 2007

By 

A. Wegman "Ton Wegman" (Durgerdam, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Captains' Guide to Liferaft Survival (Hardcover)

Planning a cruise of more than one day on the ocean?
Take this book with you and be sure you have it in your grab bag at the unfortunate circumstances you have to abandon ship. But first give it a good read when you are still on terra firma.
One point of critique: This book was written in the time when portable GPS was not common. So this invaluable instrument is unmentioned. But in case of a breakdown or loss of your GPS, Captain Cargal has some nice shoe string navigational advice for you. Also the SAR (the Search And Rescue operation following the activation of your EPIRB) is not explained. Minor remarks, because the consciencious skipper must know these facts already from other sources.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for navigators in extremis!, May 12, 2011

By 

John B - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Captains' Guide to Liferaft Survival (Hardcover)

I particularly liked the content and layout of the appendices, with their formulae and tables facilitating emergency navigation. However, there are major errors in the trig tables on pages 166 to 170.

The introduction to the table states that "For degrees higher than 180, sin, cos and tan are negative. This is plain wrong.

All functions are positive in the first quadrant from 0 to 90 degrees.

sin is positive in the second quadrant from 90 to 180 degrees, cos and tan are negative

tan is positive in the third quadrant from 180 to 270 degrees, sin and cos are negative

cos is positive in the fourth quadrant from 270 to 360 degrees, tan and sin are negative.

The fourth column of angles in the body of the table is incorrect throughout. A fourth quadrant angle is derived by subtracting the first quadrant angle from 360 degrees, not by adding it to 270 degrees, which is what the author of the table has done.

There is still a considerable amount of interest in traditional forms of navigation and both professional and the RYA/MCA Ocean Yachtmaster certificates require a knowledge of astro navigation. A navigator, in extremis, using these tables would soon have mistrust of The Captain's Guide to add to his woes.