Self Sufficient Sailor [Hardcover]

Lin Pardey (Author), Larry Pardey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1997

This book is what the title says. It is the distillation of what the Pardey's have learned in 150,000 miles of sailing on board their two cutters, Seraffyn and Taleisin, and on scores of other boats they have delivered or raced. Lin and Larry tell how they have sailed in comfort and safety without large cash outlay- on a pay-as-you-earn-as-you-go plan and by simplifying.In its first edition, this invaluable text has seen nine reprints. Now Lin and Larry have updated and revised the information to make it current and a valuable edition to any sailor's library right up to the millennium.

Editorial Reviews

Review

........for the beginner or experienced offshore cruising sailor who is contemplating a voyage, this book by one of Americas most famous sailing couples is a must. The valuable information includes ....practical, innovative ideas to better outfit any sailboat. -- Shirley Herd Deal, Sea Magazine, 1985

I think it wisest to learn from other peoples experience, by reading books. I like Glenans Sailing book and also know an excellent American book written by Lin and Larry Pardey, the Self Sufficient Sailor. -- Bernard Moitessier - Sailor, Author and Adventurer, 1989

Nothing can keep you cruising longer, safer and on a lower budget than self-sufficiency, and no one knows more about the subject than Lin and Larry Pardey. They draw on 29 years of cruising to reveal how to handle your boat under sail and at anchor; how to build trust and teamwork in your crew, and how to fortify your boat with backup systems - advice that will keep you sailing onward instead of stuck in port waiting for repair parts. -- Tom Linskey -Editor, Sail Magazine, 1996

We all have something to learn form this book, from authors who have put into practice a principle that applies to all of us. -- Denny Desoutter, Editor, Practical Boat Owner, 1997

From the Author

Lin and Larry Pardey have voyaged together for over 26 years, covering the equivalent of 5 circumnavigations on board their own self-built cutters, Seraffyn and Taleisin. Larry worked as first mate on a 140-ton, 85-foot schooner, Double Eagle, voyaging from Newport Beach, California, to Hawaii and back and along the Mexican coast before meeting Lin. He, along with Leslie Dyball, won the handicap prize for first overall in the exceptionally stormy 1974 Round Britain two-handed race. Lin and Larry have delivered two dozen boats across oceans and raced their own and others boats. Their interest in storm tactics has led them to research both older and modern methods of heaving-to, by talking and corresponding with sailors from dozens of countries, by working with Victor Shane at the Drag Device Data Base, and by testing both on their own boat in hurricane-force winds and on modern boats off the Cape of Storms, in South Africa.

Larry was selected as the winner of the International Oceanic Award, givenby the Royal Institute of Navigation under the sponsorship of the Little Ship Club of London and presented by Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, for the most meritorious voyage of over 2,000 miles using traditional methods of navigation. Larrys award was for 30 years of successful voyaging, covering more than 150,000 miles on 21 different vessels and using onlysextant and chronometer, including his 2,840 mile voyage in 1995 from Fernancdo do Noronha to Horta, in the Azores.

In March 1996, Lin was presented with the Ocean Cruising Club Award for the person who has done the most to foster and encourage ocean cruising in small craft and the practice of seamanship and navigation in all branches, at the Royal Thames Yacht Club, in London.

Articles by Lin and Larry have appeared in Sail Magazine, Cruising World, Woodenboat (USA) Practical Boat Owner, Yachting Monthly, Classic Boat Magazine (UK), Cruising Helmsman (Australia), South African Yachting, and Nautica (Brazil).

Their nine books have been published in both the United States and England; two have been translated into German and Japanese. Lin and Larry are currently writing a new book, The Cost Conscious Cruiser. Their most recent voyage took them to Scotland and Norway, and Taleisin is ready for another voyage, either west or north in the spring of 1998.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pardey Books; 2 edition (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964603675
• ISBN-13: 978-0964603677
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #498,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical knowledge for the serious sailor, June 20, 2000

By 

Ryan McNabb (Ooltewah, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Self Sufficient Sailor (Hardcover)

Lin and Larry's reprint/update is well worth the investment. Yes, the chapters here, like many of their books, started off life as magazine articles and, yes, they were published many years ago, but that is completely beside the point. Their advice is timeless because it deals with real knowledge and experience about techniques and material that will never go out of practical use. Varnish, sailcloth, kerosene lamps, dinghies, three strand rope, planes and chisels, none of these or the hundreds of other topics will ever disappear from sailing, unlike a long dissertation on LORAN or RDF or epoxy, or other topics rapidly becoming obsolete. A hundred years from now there will still be sailors on engineless boats with kerosene lamps and sextants, because simple things work. Period. Always have, always will. If this truth appeals to you, then these are your books.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The essential how-to cruise and survive, October 25, 1999

By 

Robert S. Mellis (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Self Sufficient Sailor (Hardcover)

As usual, Lin and Larry Pardey have captured in their non-preachy, no-nonsense way the essence of cruising and surviving on the high seas...as well as when you drop the hook in a foreign port. This book is fairly old ('82) but they've done a good job of updating and adding info that applies to cruising in the 90s. I'm a fan because I've owned the big boats and now I've down-sized to the more manageable 30-footer range. So I know whereof they speak. Your chances of unhooking from the land are MUCH greater if you are not plowing every cent you make into a 40-45 foot boat. Life becomes sweeter when you manage on your own to make the repairs and adapt some fix-it scheme to your boat so it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I'm working my way through their books and I truly see them as the embodiment of the modern Hiscock.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like the sea, this book is never out of date, February 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Self Sufficient Sailor (Hardcover)

I read the Pardey's Cost Conscious Cruiser first, then I met them at a seminar, listened to their absolute logic - they never said anyone else was wrong, but they did make it clear that people who write about fixing their boat too often, may have complicated their life beyond what they could handle. Self Sufficent sailor has more good advise, logical ideas and fun reading, not sure if it is better than Cost Conscious Cruiser, more like in addition to. The Pardeys made it clear at their seminar that they kept learning as they cruised. It is no wonder they need to write a new book every three or four years. Glad they take the time to do it.