Customer Reviews

A Sea Vagabond's World

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When the great Moitessier died in 1994, was working to his "manual", and " A Sea Vagabond's World ", finished by his companion Veronique and printed in 1996, is the result, the summa of his thought. You have to forgot electronic equipment, regatta tactics, crowded moorings... and enter in his philosophy, in his primitive method of rigging, in his innumerable astuteness that at the right moment may be your salvation. Feel how is a life in an atoll, in harmony with everything and everybody. If you will follow his philosophy even only in a Sunday sailing, you will feel better, more autonomous, free and you will understood what beautiful and big is the world and you will wish only to set out and sail on it.

This is the last book published under Moitessier's name--he never finished it himself--of tips he had collected over the years. It's divided into three sections: (1) preparing a boat, (2) sailing, navigating, weather forecasting; and (3) how to become self sufficient once you reach your island paradise. It's a practical guide, NOT a story, but if you are interested in tips on how Moitessier learned to harvest coconuts, plant a garden on an Atoll, (he brought his own topsoil) or built many of his boats then this could be for you.

Bernard Moitessier was born in 1925. He spent many years sailing in Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific. As a result of good common sense and so much experience, Moitessier clearly knows much about sailing.

The first two sections of "A Sea Vagabond's World" are delightful. He gives very practical advice about boat material, choice of sailing rig, self-steering gear, lighting, heaving-to, anchoring, navigating, etc. His sailing advice is very reasonable and reflects a great love of simplicity. There is much to learn in these sections. The lack of modern technology is actually a strength. Modern junk will eventually fail; knowing how to perform daily tasks with simple gear is a huge strength on the sea.

The last section, called "Islands and Lagoons," is deeply appalling. Moitessier repeatly gives advice which is incredibly destructive to local habitats. For example, he advocates pouring "kerosene into any holes," including pouring this toxin "into the sand crab (tupa) holes." Moitessier gives this advice as a method to control mosquitos. He doesn't seem to understand that applying poisons into the environment will poison the environment. He also writes about bringing topsoil in bags onto an island. His generation didn't understand about the invasive insect and plant species that can be introduced onto an island by unthinking transfer of soil.

Still, I believe that it is important to forgive our ancestors for their lack of knowledge. If you view Moitessier's book as a document of a certain type of sea travel during the late 20th century, "A Sea Vagabond's World" is a splendid little book. There is much to learn about sailing in the first two sections of the book, and much to learn about unthinking environmental destruction in the last section.

On the whole, in spite of my reservations about the poor environmental example that Moitessier sets while writing about land, I much enjoyed Moitessier's very good advice about sailing.

In my opinion, a metal boat in the tropics, using 50 year old technology, is way behind the times. He does share some interesting ways of doing things, and has a unique philosophy.