Customer Reviews

The Sailor's Handbook: A Clear and Comprehensive Guide to Sailing for Pleasure and Sport

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I own the hardcover version of this book and it is one of the best sailing books I have found and I own over 10 books about sailing and sailboats. I would compare it to Bob Bond's "Handbook of Sailing", but I like this one just as well or better as it is in a more condensed format and focuses more on technique and equipment and less on sailing history and is slightly smaller in size. The book contains hundreds of color photographs and diagrams and is well laid-out and readable. It has a great table of contents and index so it is a great reference book as well. If I could only own one sailing reference or handbook, this would be it.

This book was delivered in time and in new condition. It's a fine, handy size, reference volume to keep on board your vessel. All information for basic sailing is included, with navigation, safety, boat types and related information in easy reference format for the beginning through intermediate sailor.

The literature of sailing is replete with miscellanies and this is one of the best I've found. The book is a user-friendly compact size with each chapter consisting of two facing pages and clear line drawings or diagrams. Chapters on the essential basics such as docking or abandoning ship are clear and written with lots of insight. Therein, however, lies its weakness; American editor Hereshoff claims the chapters are written by a panel of "International" experts, but all of the chapters are really written by unnamed Brits and few of them stick to Hereshoff's promise that differences in American/British terminology would be noted in the text. I puzzled a while over why anchor line was being measured in the mysterious unit "fms" until I realized that must be "fathoms", a hopelessly quaint usage even among British writers. The latest edition is now becoming dated (pre-GPS) and I therefore would not recommend it ahead of the most recent edition of something like Chapman's, but it is an excellent book and British readers will feel right at home in its prose and terminology.