Customer Reviews

Seamanship Secrets: 185 Tips & Techniques for Better Navigation, Cruise Planning, and Boat Handling Under Power or Sail

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
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In his book, "Seamanship Secrets", John Jamieson offers invaluable advice and information that will make the reader a better skipper, regardless of their current skill level. The author draws on his impressive resume of experience to successfully share his knowledge in this easy-to-read guide. The book is heavily illustrated with charts, tables and diagrams that enhance the text.

I especially enjoyed the "Your Call, Skippper" section at the end of each chapter. The reader is presented with 5 situations, and asked to decide what action to take. This reinforces the message of the chapter, and gives you the opportunity to test your knowledge.

The time you spend going through this book will be a wise investment. "Seamanship Secrets" is a must-read for every boat owner, and it is a book that you will refer to often for years to come.

Aside from qualifying as text for University level courses Seamanship Secrets provides essential knowledge you'll be happy you know when you hit the waterways. The book is well written, concise and very useful.

My copy is heavily annotated and highlighted. There's a lot of essential info in here. Aside from the essential knowledge required for a happy successful boating adventure, everyone - no exceptions - will want to read the chapter on Preventing and Handling Emergencies. This book went straight into a large zip lock and was added to my boating essentials.

The style is to the point with examples where appropriate. John's wisdom really comes through and he decorates the passages with seasoned wit.

THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ! I can repeat this 1000 times and still never get the point across too well.

Seamanship Secrets is an investment. You're return will come in one of three ways: 1) time saved in preparing (increasing your enjoyment), 2) money saved through proper maintenance of both vehicle and tools, or 3) your life.

John Jamieson's Seamanship Secrets is a great investment for any level of skill. I recommend it for anyone, even people who are only passengers. Knowledge is power and John brings you a great wealth of it in this book. Certainly a purchase you come to appreciate. Enjoy!

Whether you are a novice skipper or an experienced captain, "Seamanship Secrets" offers proven techniques for better, safer and more enjoyable seafaring. Well illustrated and easily readable.

There are a few select books that belong on every nautical bookshelf both onboard and ashore. Seamanship Secrets is one of those gems. For years I've carried The Captain's Notebook with me on trips, now John's tome will go along also. It's indispensable, particularly to give to someone less experienced at sea, someone who needs to read it in order to comprehend what is expected of them.

In the old days, new crew had time to watch and observe how to do things the seamanlike way. Today no one has that time and must be force fed to become a competent seaman quickly. The sea neither rewards nor punishes for incompetence, It extracts consequences. This book will forestall some of those consequences. Get it and be prepared.

Captain Conrad N. Brown Jr.

As a maritime professional, I found this work to be thoroughly researched and well put together by an author who has a resume to back it all up. His presentation to the reader is very straightforward and is very easy to understand. The techniques contained in this book are solid and very easy to apply.....in fact, I'd be willing to bet that it contains more than the 185 tips indicated by the title! I believe this book is very well suited for someone who has some experience on the water and is looking to fine tune his/her skills. It will also enable the more seasoned veteran to brush up on a few areas. Because it contains quite a bit of jargon that may be quite foreign to a novice mariner, I would not necessarily recommend the book for someone who has never before stepped foot onto a boat. I cannot agree more with the author's assessment of the Florida Straits: Given the tremendous volume of fast-moving deep draft cargo vessels, cruise ships, tugs & tows, commercial fishing vessels, and an absolute deluge of recreational vessels, the "Straits" presents a very unique challenge for mariners of all experience levels. I only had a few issues with the entire work. First, on page 148, the author demonstrates a poor interpretation of the nautical rules of the road when he discusses an overtaking situation between a sailboat and a large supertanker. Basically, the author's guidance is for the sailing vessel being overtaken to quickly maneuver to allow the supertanker to pass. According to the rules, the sailboat is under no obligation to keep clear or alter course (unless operating in a narrow channel or traffic separation scheme, which it is not). In fact, the rules state that the vessel being overtaken shall maintain course and speed. It is the responsibility of the overtaking vessel to keep clear. I believe the point the author was trying to make is that any action one takes to avoid collision needs to be early and substantial....waiting until the last minute is not going to cut it, especially when dealing with another vessel traveling at a high rate of speed. Despite his intentions, the author should have more clearly dissected the situation and discussed each vessel's responsibility to avoid collision. Second, I wish the author had discussed more alongside boat handling techniques and more about forces acting upon boats. I understand this book was not written solely for the purpose of discussing boat handling; however, because boat docking presents one of the toughest challenges for recreational boaters (and seasoned professionals for that matter), I feel the topic warranted a little more discussion than it did in the book. For readers interested in more boat handling techniques, I recommend "Boat Docking" by Charles T. Low. Despite these two small bits of feedback, I believe the work done by the author is truly outstanding. I highly recommend this work for all intermediate to advanced mariners. I will be purchasing another copy of this book for my wife's grandfather who is an avid boater.

Definitely a great book to have in your collection. Well organized and full of handy tricks and useful tips on navigating, safety and general deck.

I gave this book to my husband for Christmas &, although he has been sailing for some time, he has already read it twice. Much of the information in the book was not new to him but, he found it to be a good "refresher" read.

A summary of ideas to keep you safe on the water. Many of the ideas can

be found in other books, but you would have to spend hours reading books

on navigation, cruise planning, and boat handling to glean all of the ideas

in this one book. A good review for topics that you may know but are a

bit rusty on. I recommend the book for those new to boating as well as those

with experience, but do not get out on the water as often as they would lke.

Art Campbell, CPCU

Seamanship Secrets is "Great", experienced sailors will love it! All the things we have forgotten

come right back. The situation questions make you think and the tips in the shaded areas are a

starting place for the inexperienced. Need more detail? It's right there. Read it before you sail,

and take it with you. An ideal book for every sailor who wants to get there and back.

This is one of the first books on sail navigation and sailing that I couldn't put down, I have been to asa 106, and this book cleared up any confusion I had after the class. A very informative cut to the chase no bs book. I contacted the author and thanked him for writing the book, John got right back to me and even though I never met him, I feel like we are friends, he gave me advice on captian school and his skipper tips are very much looked forward too every month, get this book