10 TERRIFIC SAILING BOOKS

Salty reads for winter evenings

Non-sailing merchant seaman trapped in Panama at the end of WWII buys a sailboat and heads for Australia to find his true love, surviving storms and starvation. South Sea Vagabonds John Wray Youngster scrounges up materials from New Zealand beaches, builds a boat in his yard, sails off into the sunset. Inspirational adventure tale. Wanderer — Sterling Hayden Troubled movie star escapes Hollywood to sail the South Seas with his four children. A candid autobiography. Mischief in Patagonia H.W. Tilman Middle-aged climber sails to the mountains of Chile on an elderly wooden boat, lives to tell the tale. A study in triumph over adversity. The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float Farley Mowat Man buys a boat hoping to sail the world, is trapped by never-ending refit instead. Luckily, he has a sense of humor. Down Channel — R.T. McMullen Vivid evocations of 19th-century cruising in small boats around the English coast, by a fine writer who literally died at the tiller, doing what he loved best. The Lonely Sea and the Sky Sir Francis Chichester Solo sailor, solo flyer, cancer survivor and one hell of a tough guy, the iconic British sailor lays out his life story in this engrossing read. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore. Ice Bird — David Lewis Want to sail around Antarctica alone in a 30ft steel boat with minimal heating, a fickle engine and no instruments? Me neither, but Lewis did, crazy Kiwi that he was. Tamata and the Alliance Bernard Moitessier Probably the least-known of the great sailor/philosopher’s books, this is a reminiscence of a life lived without boundaries. The Proving Ground G. Bruce Knecht Harrowing story of the ill-fated 1979 SydneyHobart race, sailing’s “perfect storm;” reads like a page-turning thriller.