Book List

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• Genearlly Sailing/Cruising skills
  • A Seaman's guide to the RULE OF THE ROAD - Making learning simple (international rules only), this book works on repetitions and constant testing to ensure you learn the rules of the road - written as a test-as-you-go study book for the British Navy watch officers (Royal and Merchant) to learn from
  • Bowditch - A classic, excellent all-rounder for navigation, piloting, oceanogrpahy and marine meterology - you should be able to download this for free online, google it!
  • Dutton's Nautical Navigation - a classic. Great to learn from and to remind yourself from time to time..
  • Adlard Coles - Heavy Weather Sailing - Absolutely essential heavy weather sailing text - even has a section on multi-hulls
  • Oceanography and Seamanship by Van Dorn - A really great section on Anchoring, with all the theory and forumala any scientist will love
  • Creative Anchoring - by Fatty Goodlander - A thoughtful dive into how to anchor safely and forget about all the wives-tales
• Boat Maintenance Skills
  • Boat Owners Mechanical And Electrical Manual - by Nigel Calder How to dianose and fix things that go wrong - engine, fridge, and stuff like that
  • This Old Boat - by Don Casey - A good guide to learn all sorts of boat fixing skills as a total novice - think gelcoat, fibreglass, etc
• Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach - by Don Casey and Lew Hackler - Every (potential) cruiser working on a tight budget should read this, it really gets you thinking exactly what is it do you need
• The Liveaboard Report: A Boat Dweller's Guide to What Works and What Doesn't - by Charlie Wing - What does living aboard really entail, what works and how much might it cost
• Cruising in Catamarans - by Charlie Kantor - Getting a little dated now, but still a good book - specific to multihulls - back section has reviews of several differnt models (including Gemini 105), front section includes chapters on handling, construction etc - Written by a liveaboard surveyor with multihull experience
• Cruiser specific Translation Books - If you are not totally fluent and travelling to countries that don't necessarily speak English widely, these boat repair and maintenance phrase books are so useful! Kathy Parsons' books translates both ways, with pictures, all those strange bits you won't find in a standard dictionary (like engine parts, rigging parts, even medical emergencies, etc...), they even help with pronunciation so you don't need to know ANYTHING of the language. You can take them with you to the hardware store, chandlers, hospital, etc.
  • Spanish for Cruisers - by Kathy Parsons
  • French for Cruisers - by Kathy Parsons
  • Illustrated Boat Dictionary in 9 Languages - by Adlard Coles (soon to be available as an app too). Covers: English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Portuguese and Greek

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