ONBOARD
25 N
68 CLASSIC BOAT MARCH 2012
GREAT SEAFARING BOOKS
Is this the ultimate cruising yacht’s saloon bookshelf? Are your favourite titles here?
1The Riddle of the Sands ERSKINE CHILDERS
Unfair that such a gifted tale-spinner should write just the one novel. Dramatic, atmospheric and not without humour, its evocation and use of its Frisian islands setting is masterly.
ot, you’ll notice, ‘the 25 best sailing books’, or ‘the top 25 yachting titles in the world ever’, or any definitive- sounding claim like that. We wouldn’t be so presumptuous. No, this is just a compilation of books to
do with sailing that are known and loved by Classic Boat’s staff, and, as we’re well aware, by our readers. The fact that there are 25 of them (presented, it should be emphasised, in no particular order) is of course a nod to our 25th anniversary, but it also provides a nice discipline, and a sense of scale that relates to the sort of bookshelf space to be found on a reasonable-sized cruising yacht – after allowing for the throwing-out of the ones you personally wouldn’t give boat-room to. Sailing is peculiarly blest among sports (if you allow that it is one) in that it draws on an immensely rich heritage of trade, exploration, warfare, and also pleasure and the urge for self-fulfilment. And it has a literature to match. Be it fiction, gentle cruising log or accounts of challenging circumnavigations, there is always something to stir the soul, connect with our love of the sea and feed our hunger to experience its mysterious attraction. We haven’t gone very far back in time - the oldest title here is McMullen’s Down Channel of 1869 – and we have come right up to date with two books published last year. So these books embrace a century and a bit of yachting. Some are out of print, and unavailable for your Kindle, but we think they’re worth seeking out. And if you feel we’ve missed one that we should have included – let us know. But you’ll have to nominate one to chuck out to make way for it.
2
MC
MULLEN Down Channel
One of the pioneers of ‘Corinthian’ – do-it-yourself – sailing, often single-handed, in smallish (18-44ft) boats, vividly conveyed. “No man who has read this book ever forgets it,” wrote Arthur Ransome in the Mariners Library introduction.
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