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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is the book I wish I'd read before I started cruising, March 23, 1999
This review is from: Cruising 101: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Paradise (Paperback)
Offers a very different, very fresh view of cruising, and covers subjects that most "how-to-cruise" books do not. Amy & Kevin had the dream that many of us share: To escape the daily grind and go cruising. They did it in a way that the small boat sailor can really relate to. They didn't buy a 40ft floating palace, and circumnavigate. On a very limited budget, they refurbished a late 60s Cal 30, and headed for the Sea of Cortez, were they spent 16 months, on a budget of about $250 a month. The book is divided into two parts. The first part is pretty brief, and describes their preparation and their first 101 days of cruising. It is significant because it details because it is about their difficult transformation from land dwellers to real cruisers. It offers a very honest portrayal of the emotional, physical and monetary realities of making such a drastic change in one's life. The second, much longer sections covers a number of subjects including setting reasonable expectations and attainable goals, finding and equipping your budget cruiser, dealing with on-board relationships, provisioning and cruising etiquette. The chapters on expectations, goals, relationships and etiquette are really refreshing, because they are generally not covered by other "how-to-cruise" books. There coverage of boat selection and preparation is a bit unusual, because they do not take the "equip the boat with every modern convenience" approach, but rather deal with things in terms of planning and implementing realistically for your individual needs. This is the book I wish I had had before I started cruising. That Amy and Kevin choose the Sea of Cortez as their cruising grounds was certainly a plus for me, but most of their advice applies everywhere. The book is only 191 pages, and was a very easy, quick read. I enjoyed the authors's style and attitude. I have added this book to my list of essential reading. Highly recommended.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must for wannabe cruisers, June 13, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Cruising 101: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Paradise (Paperback)
101 is not so much a primer for preparing for your first longterm cruise as it is a guide for avoiding the emotional pitfalls of such a life style change. After nine years in the Sea of Cortez I have seen many sink into "the vasty deep" (Shakespeare) of marinas, booze, bankruptcy and divorce. Don't do that--read 101 instead!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just the Right Amount, June 7, 2003
This review is from: Cruising 101: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Paradise (Paperback)
This is the book that most of us need. It is not a book about sailing around the world or what to do when your Inmarstat XG4000 goes down while hove-to in a Force 10 gale in your steel hulled Amel Super Maramu while your husband plays with the electric in-mast furling system on your carbon fibre ketch rig. It is for the rest of us who want to sail somewhere for a while and enjoy the life. Cruising 101 is the simple account of one couple's experiences and lessons learned while preparing and venturing on a 14 month cruise to Mexico. If there were more books like Cruising 101 I bet more people would go cruising. Like most of us, the authors originally planned a circumnavigation, but unlike so many of us, snapped back to reality and realized that a world cruise was simply not going to happen. Instead of giving up on the cruising idea, they set their sights somewhat smaller and far more realistic. Cruising is far easier and accessible than some would have you believe (particularly yacht brokers). While Cruising 101 is not really a true cruising manual, it does provide some analysis on valuable lessons learned. I love the "disposable cruising" philosophy. Cruises don't end because an autopilot breaks down, or because a shroud breaks, they end because of the people on the cruise and the authors devote much of their book to the psychological impacts of cruising. Relationships is an often overlooked topic in the other cruisng books. (I looked up "match made in heaven" in the dictionary and there was a picture of Larry and Lynn Pardey. Their situation is one in a million) Critics of this book say that the authors are "inexperienced" and perhaps not qualified to write about cruising. Well, 14 months on a boat is way more experience than the rest of us. This is a beginners book...A book that most of us need. Sure, read Slocum and Hiscock and the Pardeys. But realize that cruising is ALL that they do and they have been doing it their ENTIRE LIVES. Read this book and you will realize that if you want to, you can sail away too.
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