From America's leading sailing authority, the first lively, authoritative guide to the language of boating and the sea. From "abaft" to "Zulu," including terms as new as "bowrider" and as old as "starboard," here is the language of pleasure boating—clearly defined terms that today's sailors and powerboaters rely on to make their way safely and happily upon America's waters. Families of related terms are grouped together in special sections.
QUIZ: What do the following phrases mean: head up, harden up, come up, round up, freshen your wind, sharpen up, sharpen your wind, heat it up? ANSWER: The same thing: "steer closer to the wind." .
After 30 years of professional writing about boats, sailing, New York history, cemeteries, religion, and other topics, it's still a thrill to learn that I've given people pleasure and security. Just this morning I read these words: "If you want your Ph.D. in sailing there's always John Rousmaniere's The Annapolis Book of Seamanship." That advice to a new sailor appeared in the Catalina Association Forum on June 27, 2009.
Though I've sailed some 35,000 miles on most of the oceans, I was born in Kentucky and spent my early years in Ohio. My family moved to the shore of Long Island Sound, where as a boy I fell in love with sailing and boats. Raised by parents who were wonderful story-tellers, I became determined to be a writer, and that's what I've been doing most of my life. I was educated at Columbia University (bachelor's and master's degrees in history) and Union Theological Seminary (M.Div. -- readers say they see religion and spirituality in my books), where my wife, Leah, works. After Army service, I spent several years as an editor at YACHTING magazine, them became a freelance writer while raising my two young sons solo.
I do a lot of lecturing and instruction -- 20-30 talks a year across the country -- in part because it puts me in touch with readers. When not sailing and writing, I enjoy mountain hiking, New York City, movies, reading fiction, poetry, and American history, and spending time with my wonderful sons, their wives, and their children.
