Best Sailing Books

On April 24, 1895, Captain Joshua Slocum set out on a three-year journey to circumnavigate the world alone by boat. Crossing the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in his sloop, the Spray, Slocum visited South Africa, South America, and Australia before returning home as the first man to successfully sail around the world solo. Slocum's memoir tells of pi...

First launched in 1983, Annapolis remains the sailor's bible, a comprehensive chapter and verse guide to all aspects of seamanship from the simplest ABC's to the most advanced skills and latest electronics. And while much of the original edition has been left in dry dock to make way for the many changes on the water since 1983--like multihull vesse...

What begins as the sheer desire for adventure turns into a spiritual quest as a young woman comes to terms with her family, her dreams, and her first love.Tania Aebi was an unambitious eighteen-year-old, a bicycle messenger in New York City by day, a Lower East Side barfly at night. In short, she was going nowhere—until her father offered her a cha...

An essential reference book for sailing enthusiasts, now in its fourth edition with a foreword by quadruple Olympic gold medalist Ben Ainslie.Learn the basics of sailing, master navigation, and maintain your boat with The Complete Sailing Manual, written by instructor and former British national champion Steve Sleight. This authoritative text has c...

Kon-Tiki is the record of an astonishing adventure -- a journey of 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean by raft. Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, biologist Thor Heyerdahl suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by an ancient race from thousands of miles to the east, led by a mythical hero, Kon-Tiki. He decided to prove his t...

The Long Way is Bernard Moitessier's own incredible story of his participation in the first Golden Globe Race, a solo, non-stop circumnavigation rounding the three great Capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin, and the Horn. For seven months, the veteran seafarer battled storms, doldrums, gear-failures, knock-downs, as well as overwhelming fatigue and loneline...

This is not just an instructional book---it's an insight into a sailor's approach to the sea, boats, and the ever-changing dynamic of wind on the water "A learn-to-sail book with heart."--WoodenBoat "A real winner...a masterful blend of straightforward text with delightful and instructive illustrations. Quite simply a great primer on sailing and th...

The definitive guide from the world's best-known sailboat maintenance expertDon Casey's Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual combines six core volumes into a single, utterly dependable resource that answers every frequent question, explains every major system, and helps you keep your boat and its components shipshape.More than 2,500 cle...

Interested in learning to sail but feel like you're navigating in murky waters? Sailing for Dummies, Second Edition introduces the basics of sailing, looks at the different types of sailboats and their basic parts, and teaches you everything you need to know before you leave the dock. In Sailing for Dummies, Second Edition, two U.S. sailing champio...

'One of the best books ever written about sailing' Time 27,000 miles, three and a half to five months alone at sea, chilling casualty rates, the unrelenting strain of handling 60-foot boats day and night, the absolute certainty of weather and waves that could destroy them. On 3 November 1996 sixteen sailors set out from the Bay of Biscay to embark ...

In this 10th Anniversary edition, with a new afterword from the author, G.Bruce Knecht tells the harrowing story of a world-renowned sailing race gone fatally bad.On December 26, 1998, 115 sailboats crossed the starting line of the famous Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. The 630-nautical-mile contest is among the most difficult races in the world, a te...