Sailing (Eyewitness Companions) Review & Ratings

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Sailing (Eyewitness Companions) Review

This book, by Jeremy Evans, Rod Heikell, Tim Jeffery, and Andy O'Grady, starts with an introduction by Ellen MacArthur, who set a record by sailing around the world solo in less than 72 days, in 2005 (in a 75-foot trimaran). Then comes a section on the advent of modern racing (including a description of the famous 1903 America's Cup defender, the Reliance, which was actually 144 feet long, not 44 feet as the typo in this book gives). There are fundamentals of what boats (and their components) are, as well as good advice on what to wear on a boat. And there are fundamentals of how to learn to sail, with excellent color photographs which I think are of great benefit. That includes rigging a boat, launching and landing it, sailing it, packing it, storing and maintaining it, and even topics such as trapezing. We also see some very useful material on ropework and basic knots. And there's a nice section on a simple capsize drill (clearly a good idea, given the way I've seen some folks flounder around in trying to right their dinghies).
Nevertheless, given that this book is over 350 pages, I would like to see a few more fundamentals about racing strategy, tactics, and techniques. Surely there could be a few words about wind patterns and stability and their significance in a race, currents, local knowledge (especially about thermal winds), and maybe kinetics. I'd also want to see a little about the speeds of different boats, and maybe the mention of a metric such as the Portsmouth number.
We then get to a section on sailing a yacht. And the yacht we see in the book is a splendid one: a Jeanneau Sun Fast 37. My guess is that this boat is around 200K, or maybe 3K per week to rent, as even a 25-foot Jeanneau is around 50K. There's a chapter about weather and also one on navigation. I have to admit that I wanted to see a couple of pages on how to use a sextant, but I understand that in the GPS age, this knowledge has become somewhat secondary. We do at least learn roughly where the North Truro lighthouse is (to the best of my knowledge, it is 42 degrees 2 minutes and 21 seconds North, 70 degrees, 3 minutes and 44 seconds West).
The book includes sections on sailing in poor visibility, or in rough weather, man overboard drills, first aid, and other emergencies.
There is a chapter which describes over two dozen sailing destinations, for tourists. I was a little surprised by its inclusion, but I think it is a good idea. And the final chapter is about the world of sailboat racing. That starts with the America's Cup (which Alinghi won this year, 5-2 over New Zealand). And there are descriptions of two dozen other famous races, most of them annual or biannual. That includes, for example, the Middle Sea Race which goes around Sicily counterclockwise, leaving from Marsamxett Harbor in Malta. And it mentions the Olympic classes, including the high performance 49ers.
This beautifully and thoughtfully illustrated book is very informative and is a pleasure to read. I recommend it.

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