Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Started Sailing, Expanded and Updated

by John Vigor, Don Casey (Foreword by)

Overview

John Vigor knows a thing or two about sailing. He's been at it for decades in sailboats of all kinds-racing (he's a national champion), cruising (he has tens of thousands of miles of blue-water crossings), and generally messing about (there is no place he'd rather be). John Vigor knows a thing or two about writing as well. A journalist by trade, he was a reporter, columnist, and editor, and he's written more than a few best-selling books about sailing. Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Started Sailing is a gift, a blessing for sailors of all stripes, a condensation of all he has learned over the years. Aimed at sailboat owners of all kinds, this reference book contains 200 entries packed with solid practical advice and valuable tips. Each entry is categorized alphabetically and prefaced by an arresting statement, such as "People always lie about how fast their boats are." The reference format offers readers the opportunity to open the book at any page and browse endlessly. A comprehensive appendix covers some 50 technical topics. Here's a small taste, but look inside for the full banquet: -Don't waste your money on high-powered binoculars. -Inflatable dinghies aren't all that good. -Don't delude yourself-there is no perfect boat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493051397
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/01/2020
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	671,190
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

John Vigor emigrated to South Africa from England with his family at age thirteen. A journalist by trade and a sailor by vocation, he is author of twelve boating books and scores of articles in boating magazines on three continents. His newspaper career spanned forty years in America, England, and South Africa. In 1987 John sailed from Durban to the United States on his 30-foot sloop with his wife and their youngest son. The story of that stressful six-month voyage is recounted in his acclaimed book, Small Boat to Freedom. He is now an American citizen living in Bellingham, Washington.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Foreword xiii

Introduction xv

A 1

Accidents

Advice

Anchoring

Anchor soaking

Anxiety

Astern gear

Autopilots

Avoiding collisions

B 9

Balanced helm

Basic requirements

Battens

Berthing

Bestsellers, how to write

Bilge pumps

Binoculars

Black box theory

Boat categories

Boat choice

Boat design

Boat dimensions

Boat size

Boatyards

Bottom paint

Bow rollers

Brotherhood of sail

Building a boat

Bulwarks

Bunks

C 27

Capsize

Carbon monoxide

Chartering

Cleats

Climbing the mast

Coast Guard powers

Cockpits

Common sense

Compasses

Compasses, importance of

Compromises

Cooking at sea

Cooking with alcohol

Crew overboard

Crew problems

Cruising bliss

Cruising costs

Cruising dreams

Currents

D 41

Danger

Design, learning about

Designers, how to drive crazy

Dinghies

Dinghies, crossing oceans in

Direction-finding radio

Dismasting

Displacement

Documentation

Downwind sailing

Drinking seawater

Drowning

E 51

Edible boats

Electricity, idle thoughts

Electrolysis

Emergency gear

Engine power

Engines, accessibility

Engines, bleeding

Engines, clean fuel

Engines, fuel consumption

Engines, gasoline

Engines, life expectancy

Engines, operating

Engines, runaway

Engines, surveying

Engines, tools

Engines, unnecessary

Engines, unreliable

F 64

Fear

First sail, memories

Fog

Forecasting weather

Freak waves

Freshwater supplies

G 70

Gifts, Christmas

GPS

Grounding

H 73

Hair

Hallucinations

Headroom

Hidden mysteries

Hobbyhorsing

Holding value

Hurricanes

Hypothermia

I-K 80

Ice on board

Inertia

Joy, of small, simple boats

Keel design

Knots

L 84

Leaks

Learning the ropes

Learning to sail

Leeway

Lessons my boats have taught me

Lies

Life rafts

Life rafts, need for, further thoughts

Lifelines

Lightning

Log books

Love, unrequited

Luck

M 96

Magnetic North, reversing

Maintenance

Maintenance, teak

Masts and madness

Messing about

Mildew and mold

Moorings

N 102

Nautical mile

Navigation aids

Navigation difficulties

Navigation lights

Nightmares, sailors' worst

Night sailing

Night vision

Non-essentials

O 109

Obsession

Old saws, incorrect

Osmosis

Overhangs

P 113

Performance

Pets

Plankton

Pollution

Prices

Privacy

Propellers

R 119

Racing

Radar

Radar reflectors

Rain

Reading, suggestions

Reefing

Refrigeration

Relative speeds

Renaming a boat

Repainting

Resolutions, New Year's

Responsibility

Rigging

Rig-tuning, inexpensive method

Right of way

Rigs

Roller furling, perils of

Rules of the road

Running aground

Running lights

Running rigging

S 137

Safety harnesses

Safety and smallness

Sail materials

Sailing on Friday

Sailing skill

Saint Elmo

Salvage

Sculling

Sea monsters

Seacocks

Seakindliness

Seasickness

Seaworthiness

Seaworthy sterns

Selling

Selling, rule of thumb

Sex and sailing

Signal mirrors

Simple contentment

Simple solutions

Singlebanders

Singlehanding

Sinning, and loving it

Sleep, lack of

Slip fees

Smells, scents

Solo sailing

Souls

Speed

Spinnakers

Splicing

Springtime, call of

Stability

Stability, tenderness

Stainless steel

Steering

Storm tactics

Stuff you don't need

Surveyors

T 171

Teak and varnish

Tenders

Tides

Tools, hand

Towing

Trade winds

Trailerboats, seaworthiness

Trysails

U-V 179

Unlucky names

Upgrading

Varnishing, timing of

Ventilation

Voices from the sea

Voyaging

W 184

Watchkeeping

Water

Watertight bulkheads

Wave heights

Weather, heavy

Weather helm

What's to know about sailing?

Who's in charge?

Wind at mast height

Wind strength

Windlass

Winter, what real sailors do

Women sailors

Wooden boats

Writing about sailing

Y-Z 198

Yacht clubs

Yacht definition

Yachting gear

Zinc blocks

Appendix: Some useful tables and formulas I wish I'd known about 201

Bibliography: Books I wish someone had told me to read 217

Editorial Reviews

...it is always interesting and very readable.

-- "Sailing"

Filled with practical advice, this book is a winner.

-- "The Ensign"

This book is easy to read. It imparts some very valuable information in a fun package.

-- "Good Old Boat"

This is a great reference book for those just entering the world of sailing, and entertaining.

-- "Latitudes & Attitudes"

Vigor, who's written for several boating magazines, has brought his experience and sense of humor to bear on the less than ideal experiences of sailing--and he's even alphabetized them...It's fun to page through and you just might learn a thing or two.

-- "Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal"

From the Publisher

Filled with practical advice, this book is a winner.

The Ensign

...it is always interesting and very readable.

Sailing

This is a great reference book for those just entering the world of sailing, and entertaining.

Latitudes & Attitudes

This book is easy to read. It imparts some very valuable information in a fun package.

Good Old Boat

Vigor, who's written for several boating magazines, has brought his experience and sense of humor to bear on the less than ideal experiences of sailing—and he's even alphabetized them...It's fun to page through and you just might learn a thing or two.

Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal