ONBOARD Books Buying a yacht
New or Second-hand BY BARRY PICKTHALL
These books are stalwart perennials of marine publishing. Along with diesel maintenance, knot-tying and how to pass your Day Skipper, they must make up half of publishers’ catalogues. This ‘buying a boat’ book by ex-Times yachting correspondent and CB regular Barry Pickthall, turned out to be one of the better ones. It’s full of the sort of useful, dull information you need in these matters, things like insurance and documentation, without the irritating caveat that the reader should check online – no need to: it’s all here. It also a good bedtime read, largely because of its descriptions of specifi c boats, which are divided into sections like ‘trailer-sailers, ‘multihulls’ and yachts in different size brackets. Here we have the Westerly series, so popular in the 70s and a good second-hand buy; modern catamarans, like the
CLASSIC BOOKSHELF Sailing Just for Fun BY A C Stock
In such times, when many of us are grossly overboated, it is good to have a reminder of what sailing is really about. Since 1963, Charles Stock has voyaged about 60,000 miles in his 16ft 6in (5m) wooden gaff sloop Shoal Waters in comfort that he compares favourably to that aff orded by a tent, and with a pair of wellies as his tender. This is the story of his cruises. Woven into these is a manual of small-boat seamanship; reams of detailed pilotage information on sailing the waters of the East Coast; and a collection of tips on living well in a small space, like using an empty steak and kidney pudding tin to scrape barnacles off the hull. The abiding image of Charles Stock is of a man utterly in tune with his boat and environment. This is quite a recent book to feature in our ‘classic’ slot, but since its publication in 2002, it
has sold more than 4,000 copies (making it a best-seller in today’s terms) and has endeared itself to lovers of the East Coast and small-boat sailors, some of whom implored me to read it. I’m glad I did. It deserves to vie for bookshelf space with The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow. SHMH
Pub Seafarer Books, 2002, 240pp, paperback, 2002
Lagoons, and new little 20 to 25-footers with as much
accommodation as a 30ft (9.1m) Hillyard. I started hankering after all sorts of boats that would get me fi red from the magazine, so perhaps this is a dangerous book too. On wooden boats, Barry warns that the would-be owner had better like maintenance, as much as he likes sailing.
If you are after an overview of how to buy a boat for the fi rst time, or after a hiatus, you will fi nd this very readable and you will be in safe hands with Barry: he’s been around boats a long, long time. SHMH
Pub Adlard Coles Nautical, 2012, 144pp, paperback, £14.99, ISBN 9781408154182
The Practical Skywatcher’s
Handbook By David Levy and Dr John O’Byrne
No prior knowledge is needed to read this from-fi rst-principles guide. Its 12 chapters are loaded with a daunting array of facts and pictures. The biggest section is a detailed guide to the constellations, helping you fi nd your way around the night sky. There are charts, potted histories and other useful snippets about each grouping. Earlier chapters look at types of telescope, the history of astronomy, the sun and moon and our planetary system. Sadly, there is no specifi c information on astro
navigation. This book is heavy in the hand and is overly packed with facts. PS
Pub Adland Coles, 2010, 480pp paperback, £16.99
Solent Sailor By Denny Desoutter
Denny Desoutter was a founder editor of Practical Boat Owner, but also a technical journalist and broadcaster in engineering and aviation. Solent Sailor is his last book, edited and published posthumously by his daughter Jenny under the imprint Skipper Publications; no website as yet. The story starts in 1936, but one
has to take issue with the text almost immediately, as Denny paints a scene he says is now long-forgotten: a slender picnic boat slicing over to Cowes... Our author tells us we won’t see her like or the elegant racing yachts she tends, again. Should have read Classic Boat, Denny, you feel like saying!
But while this book could have done with a more professional edit, there are great passages, like his description of the Portland tidal race, and other aspects of practical sailing and passage-making gained through a lifetime’s cruising in several diff erent types of boat. Like most practical sailors, he favours small boats for their advantages in handling and exploring, and there are nautical gems here. DH
Pub Skipper Publications, 2011, 258pp, paperback, £14.99 CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2011 69
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