Perhaps you had a sailing trip planned for the coming weeks or months, and now you’re forced to stay home. Like a true sailor, you’ll change course and choose a different harbor: your own living room.
From your armchair, you can sail around the world without worrying about the wind or current, without suddenly having to put your book aside to reef, without having to acrobatically catch coffee mugs or plates sliding off the table.
Quite relaxing, actually!
5 tips from our onboard library
Do you love modern heroes, tough sailors, or nature enthusiasts? Then we can recommend these books:
Sailing to Cold Coasts – Eerde Beulakker
About his sailing trip with the Teake Hadewych, visiting places like the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and Antarctica, following in the footsteps of Ernest Shackleton (see Part 2: The Classics). Beautiful descriptions of the (often extraordinary) people Eerde and Hedwig meet along the way, and of nature, of course. I sailed part of their route myself a few years ago, like this section in the Beagle Channel:
“The next day, we sailed into Canal Moat early in the morning, passed Haberton, and finally slipped through Paso Mackinlay, the eastern gate to the Beagle Channel, the most beautiful waterway on Earth. The sky was clear blue. Two mighty mountain ranges were separated by water that mirrored to the horizon. To the west, the gleaming snow-capped peaks of the Cordillera Darwin rose into the thin blue air.”
Classic Seamanship in Practice – Dick Huges
Years ago, Marijn gave me a signed copy of this book as a gift, not knowing that I had already exchanged many emails with Dick about his celestial navigation course, which I always wanted to take (when I wasn’t at sea and Dick had space in his class). A year later, I managed to take the course (highly recommended) and devoured the book.
Dick is a great enthusiast and proponent of ‘old school’ sailing. In his book, he talks about his world voyages, how he equips and gets to know his boat, what choices he makes, and why. Inspiring and educational, with useful appendices on celestial navigation, sheet-to-tiller, and meteorology. It’s about being thrown back on your own resources, dealing with (primitive) conditions, and enjoying the journey.
During the refit of the Baltic, Dick regularly stops by the shipyard in Harlingen. Always in good spirits and with practical tips. We hear about the challenges he faced during the refit of his sailboat Gladys and draw hope from his encouraging words.
Sailing Alone Around the World in a Cutter – Joshua Slocum
A book “for all men [and women, I think] of all times, as long as there are sailors brave enough to seek great adventure,” according to the publisher. Joshua Slocum was the first to sail solo around the world in his cutter ‘Spray’. As a captain, he sailed large, wind-powered cargo ships to China, Australia, and Japan. Once retired, he built his own small vessel and embarked on a world voyage in 1895.
“I had not been south of these regions [Buenos Aires] in many years. I will not say that I expected nothing but splendid sailing on my way to Cape Horn, but as I worked with the sails and rigging, I had but one thought, and that was: onward!
[…] I had but a moment to strike sail and scramble into the rigging, out of danger, when I saw a mast high above me on the tremendous wave-staircase. The water mountain engulfed my entire little vessel. It shook in every part, swayed under the weight of the water, but soon rose again and glided beautifully over the rollers that followed.”
Hero at Sea, the adventurous life of Mark Slats – Micha Jacobs
The story of the carpenter who decides to participate in the legendary Golden Globe Race in 2019, just a few months after rowing across the Atlantic Ocean in the Talisker Whisky Race. An incredible and inspiring adventure. Not that we ourselves have ambitions to participate in the Golden Globe (if only because of the insane rules and the race management’s at least peculiar decisions), but because of Mark’s willpower, enthusiasm, and belief in his own abilities. Under the motto “Be stronger than your excuse,” he tackles every challenge.
In his preparation for the Golden Globe Race, Mark meets Dick Huges (see above). During the race, you’re not allowed to use modern navigation tools, so Mark will have to learn how to determine his position using celestial navigation. Mark (like us) enrolls in Dick’s course in the attic of L.J. Harri in Amsterdam and eventually finishes second in the race. Something no one had ever achieved before!
Northern Lights, Rowing in Arctic Waters – Jill Fredston
Jill is not a sailor, but an avalanche expert. In the summers, she travels by canoe along the coasts of Alaska, Greenland, Spitsbergen, and Norway, even slower and closer to the water than by sailboat. She recounts how she started her rowing adventures as a young girl. Beautiful descriptions of the wild, Arctic nature.
“We rowed past jagged cliffs that seemed to vibrate with all the birds, and past the snow-capped peaks after which Spitsbergen is named. Groups of sixty or more beluga whales swam cautiously between our boats, and bearded seals followed our trail like private detectives. Puffins made us laugh out loud as they darted past with their orange beaks and their feet straight behind them, like nuns on their way to important religious matters.”
PS: Most books can be ordered from your local bookstore and delivered right to your home.
