Monday, October 17, 2011

Book Review: Ultimate Sailing Adventures

I got this book over the weekend, tempted, as the nights are getting longer, by the pictures and stories of sailing adventures. It has something for everyone, ranging from the canals of France to exploring the Northwest passage.

The ones I've done are:
- Round the Island Race
- Sydney Harbour
- Land's End
- Sail up the Thames
- Fastnet
- Sushi at sea
- Charter in Greece
- Cowes Week
- Race around Portland Bill
- Oysters in Cornwall
- East Coast sailing (ok, in a dinghy)
- Wander in a Wayfarer (ok, have sailed a Wayfarer)
- Cross the English Channel

Some of the others to be honest I can't see myself ever doing - the likes of competing in the Volvo or Vendee Globe, but there are plenty of ideas for future sails.

One thing I wasn't sure about was it has this concept of difficulty.

Now I can see that sailing a Wayfarer could be anything from "simple" to "extreme" depending upon where you sail it. But how is it that both rounding Land's End and Portland Bill are described as "tricky" but the Fastnet, which involves both, is only described as "moderate" - the same as Charter in Greece? I mean - seriously?

Sailing in the ARC or in a classics regatta weren't on the list so maybe there needs to be a list of 200 sailing adventures?

What sailing adventures would be on your list?

5 comments:

Peter said...

I got this book for my birthday and I think it is a really enjoyable read that examines a hundred different scenarios. Moreover, it is accompanied by many excellent photos.

JP said...

I agree, though more of a dip and and out sort of book than the Spanish Armada book I've just read.

MK said...

Thanks for the comments - I wrote Ultimate Sailing Adventures! You are quite right about the difficulty ratings - I was guilty of not keeping them all relative to each other.
And there are certainly plenty more for another 100 adventures.
If you enjoyed the mix have a look at some of the recommendations here:
http://www.wileynautical.com/details/blog/1359813/A_word_from_the_Editor.html

Amazing Sailing Stories by Dick Durham is a great mix of tales of the sea.

I am biased as I publish the book!

Good reading,

Miles

JP said...

Hi Miles,

Thanks for your comment and congrats on the book. You might be glad to hear I paid full price at Waterstones (support your local book store!).

Thanks also for the reading tip, I'll keep a look out for it though at the present reading Simon Winchester's Atlantic (review to come)

inna said...

Enjoyable things are included in this book.Good work.