Book Reviews

Publisher: Seafarer books, £9:95
Publication Date: 2007

The title could well have a comma after the"Ice" but "Ice bears" also refers to polar bears - it is subtitled "Rowing on top of the world",and there is a fair share of ice and even visits from a polar bear.

Kotick is the name of the 17 foot open boat that Peter and his friend Shaggy - both Royal Marines - rowed and sailed to make the first open-boat circumnavigation of Spitsbergen, an Arctic island the same size as Northern Scotland. The boat was an Oselvar,built at Os near Bergen. These boats date from Viking times and are light and swift built with 3 broad planks and a solid thwart with a hole for stepping the mast.

Kotick was a "faering" which means 4-oared with a square mainsail and balloon jib. The mast was unstepped and stowed inboard when they were both rowing unless they were "motor-sailing", a term they used when one rowed and the other tended the sails.

All this happened 16 years ago and Peter who has had a varied and adventurous life since then, has only just written the story. It makes fascinating reading, how they stowed all their gear, mast and sails and how a powerful rifle was most important to scare off bears and, as last resort, to shoot if attacked.. They erected trip wires to set off flares when asleep on the shore or ice but sometimes they slept alternatively in the bottom of the boat while just one rowed.

There was no darkness in the Arctic summer so the days routine was arbitrary. It was predicted that the circumnavigation -1,100 Kms and 30 days - would fail owing to ice but they cleverly overcame all these hazards. Two-thirds was spent rowing and one-third under sail. Most intriguing were the descriptions of stowage, navigation, sailing, avoidance of ice and bears, and description of the environment but also of the interaction between Peter and Shaggy. My only very minor niggle is that there are rather a lot of rhetorical questions.

There are 12 pages of beautiful colour photos and the text is interspersed with line drawings, all of which make it a very reasonable buy for a small paperback of 240 pages. I think this adventure will appeal to a wide readership and I can thoroughly recommend it. - Norman Tricks

Publisher: Wiley Nautical, £14.99
Publication Date: 2008

Subtitled 'The Handbook of Traditional & Emergency Navigation' this paperback volume assumes the modern yachtsman to be helpless in the event of failure of his GPS and reduced to constructing makeshift navigational devices from sticks and string in order to find his way home. Whilst the demise of traditional navigation is recognised this somewhat overstates the case. A competent skipper in a well found yacht should be able to continue navigating in these circumstances without needing to make a sun dial or employ a bent coathanger to find his latitude.

Having said that, the book does provide a wealth of interesting boy scoutish navigational tricks based on little more than homemade devices and a sharp eye, and, perhaps should be enjoyed on this basis. Great use is made of the sky (did you know that a line through the horns of the crescent moon, projected to the horizon, gives you due south?). Basic astronomical navigation as well as techniques of plane sailing that the older among us learned in our day, traverse tables, doubling the angle on the bow, and so on are resurrected. Much of it, though not all, is directed towards the longer distance sailor far from land.

The book is a quality production, liberally illustrated in full colour. You probably won't need it if the GPS goes on the blink halfway back from Cherbourg, but if you were to find yourself in a lifeboat in mid ocean, without recourse to the GMDSS, you might well be pleased to have it with you. - BMF

Publisher: Fitzroy Press, £8.99
Publication Date: 2008

To reflect on 50 years of small boat handling is probably best left for roaring winter evenings: slippers towards the fire, whisky at elbow. For many, relating a lifetime in a three-tale memoir might tax resolution almost as much as the original experiences; what not to include becoming the first test.
Here, however, the author has produced an easy-to-read three-part argument for simplicity and self-sufficiency in small sailing vessels. His philosophy, to avoid both unhandy ships and crewmates, was born of being shipwrecked on the barque Endeavour II off New Zealand in 1971. He begins with that account and its extraordinary recall of detail and compulsive way with words easily held me for a single sitting.

Then the writer develops his theme by describing his entry in the 1974 Trans Tasman Yacht Race during which he survives a tumbling capsize – again vividly described – by dint of his stout craft and personal fortitude.

In the final story, complete with philosophical musings and saucy doggerel, he works his junk-rigged, engine-less Corribee from Burnham to Plymouth to enter the 2006 Trans-Atlantic Jester Challenge. Heading weather, calms, poor visibility beset him the whole way until, 14 days out of Plymouth, he turns for home only to endure further frustrations as he sails his little ship back to the Crouch.

The volume is nicely presented in soft back with an arresting cover illustration of a square-rigger forging powerfully into the camera. I take the point about using monochrome illustration to 'minimise cost and ecological impact', but the production would have been greatly enhanced by colour. – Edward Cartner

Publisher: Mystic Seaport and Cruising Club of America
Publication Date: 2006

Revered today as one of ocean racing’s sternest trials, the Bermuda Race began modestly in 1906 when three cruising yachts left New York simultaneously to race to Bermuda. Their route, and that of subsequent races, took them through waters notorious for their climatic and oceanographic complexity, and requiring a close understanding of ocean currents and weather patterns.

John Rousmaniere’s centenary history traces the impact of this, the earliest of all ocean races, on the design of large yachts. Various strategies are examined for crossing the Gulf Stream, straddled by the route of the Race. Eminent skippers, including Rod and Olin Stephens, generously shared their experiences of the Race in ‘Yachting’ magazine, one of the principal sources for this text.

The year 1926 saw the first British entry, when George Martin sailed Jolie Brise across the Atlantic in 48 days to join the Race in gratitude to America for creating ocean racing and inspiring the Fastnet Race. Six years later the crew of Jolie Brise entered again and saved crew from another competitor on fire, earning world-wide attention for the Race and medals for her crew.

John Rousmaniere has sailed seven Bermuda races and writes feelingly about the privations endured by participants, and the keen sense of fellowship. Interspersed into his text are profiles of eminent skippers and Race officials, with tips on ‘How to win a Bermuda Race’. The Rosenfeld photographic collection at Mystic Seaport provides many of the excellent illustrations. Sources of information are listed, and there is a comprehensive index. -
JCR.

Publisher: David Bateman, £30
Publication Date: 2007

Another book on the America's Cup! It's amazing there's anything left to say about competing for this most prestigious of yachting trophies. In 2007 veteran yachting correspondent Bob Fisher published, in two massive volumes, what must be the definitive account; yet here we have another new contribution to the genre.

But wait a minute. The title conjures up distant memories of an excellent launch party for a book with a very similar title thrown by none other than - Ranulf Rayner and Tim Thompson. Is it an updated version of the one published over 20 years ago? No sign of it being called revised or updated edition in the book's prelims, but some of the early text has a dated ring about it, confirmed by the remark that designers are still trying to achieve a breakthrough in 12-metre design. I don't think so! Time
to check on amazon.com. This lists under Thompson's and Rayner's names not
only The Paintings of the America's Cup, 1851-1987 but three others which
have the same title as the present edition, covering the periods 1851-1992, 1851-2000, and 1851-2003. Quite an industry! Rather naughty of the publishers not to have come clean about the book's past.

Does it really matter? Not a scrap, for Tim Thompson¹s ravishing paintings of each challenge, beautifully presented in landscape format, are worth every penny of the purchase price. Maps of the courses, vignettes of the more interesting challengers, and black-and-white line drawings of the sail plan of every competing yacht add to the interest, and there are also enlarged details of each of the paintings that reveal the artist's incredible attention to detail. Buy and enjoy. That is, if you don¹t already have an earlier edition. – ID

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart, US$ 29.95
Publication Date: 2007

The 1979 Fastnet Race must rate as one of the major tragedies in sailing for many years, claiming the lives of fifteen competitors. We tend to remember the overall picture: the rescue of 136 competitors, the extreme conditions, the lives lost. Adam Mayers, a Canadian journalist, has produced a more intimate account of the yachts which comprised the Canadian Admiral’s Cup team. His interviews with those taking part, although after a period of 26 years, provide very evocative memories.

A vivid picture emerges of a rapid shift from racing to survival mode, with extreme conditions on deck, broaches and knockdowns, many crew owing lives to their lifelines. There was chaos for those below deck, with violent movement, extreme noise and the fear that yachts could founder. With constant pumping, one crew likened conditions to ‘trying to sleep in a sewer’.

All the team boats were about 42ft overall. ‘Magistri’ was a fully ballasted traditional design which, although caught by the storm on her way to the Rock was able to fight her way around, and finished on the Wednesday, just ahead of Morning Cloud.

The other two were more modern designs, one with a fibreglass hull with a lifting keel and the other of aluminium construction. The latter had lost her mast during Cowes week, and retired with 45 other competitors to safety in Ireland, the other arriving back in Plymouth after retiring. Both were able to assist by relaying messages during the rescue operation.

Good background information is given for both sailors and non-sailors. The circumstances in which lives were lost, together with the weather conditions which resulted in winds up to 80 m.p.h. and confused seas of 50 feet. Some of those interviewed felt that they had been inadequate for the challenge. None gave up sailing, half of them took part in subsequent Fastnet Races, but they never forgot August 1979. – Peter Labdon

Publisher: Catnip Publishing Company, £5.99
Publication Date: 2007

This book is a good introduction for the younger reader to a naval historical novel. It is a classic scenario where a tomboy girl disguises herself as a boy and sets off to find her parents in America. She hides aboard a Royal Navy three masted sloop of war and then discovers it has set sail. She is mistaken for one of the crew and learns about knots and splices in Rope School and life aboard a sloop. A war is being fought against America and her ship battles with an American ship giving a surprising outcome. It is any easy read and the adventure moves on with a good pace for the young reader and adult alike. The paperback is printed in quite large print so help reading while at sea. - SL

Publisher: Wheatmark, 1st ed.; £13.99
Publication Date: 2008

A 'sticky book'. I couldn't put it down. The relaxed style of a woman who copes with husband, boat, sea, European ports, (particularly the moorings therein), and 'foreignors' with perception and good humour provided me with a few hours of enjoyment both sharing her adventures and reminiscing my own in some of the same waters.

If anything, the narrative is too easy. Can you really head off for bluewater with such limited sailing experience in your own 40ft catamaran and have nothing more difficult or dangerous to face than the marina washing facilities and the roads to the supermarket? It seems so. The dream is possible.

Other than my doubts on this score, I would wish, in the next leg of this lifetime trip, more detail on the sailing (what do you do all day in fair weather and foul?); less detail on the menus (though the record is a tribute to accurate log-keeping and cooking); and some more pictures (I read the paperback,there may be some in the hardback); the maps were useful references. If you are thinking of joining the fleet of sailaways, this is an encouragement, but please read the disclaimer preceding the narrative. The sea is not always so kind to those who go down and take their pleasures in deep waters. – Susan M.

Publisher: Adlard Coles Nautical, 5th ed.; £7.99
Publication Date: 2007

The 5th edition of the ever-popular Reeds Skipper’s Handbook completes nearly fifteen years of service for this aide-memoire of common boating questions and answers. This concise small pocket-sized volume is packed full of the basics of seamanship and author Malcolm Pearson, a RYA Yachtmaster Instructor, continues to draw heavily on the wealth of RYA course material and publications. The diagrams and sketches are very clear and understandable given the small size of the publication and the colour-coded page margins and comprehensive indexing makes finding the desired topic very easy.

Updated for this edition to include more on electronic navigation, it achieves a fair standard of modern boating techniques and technology and only falls short of the state of the art when relying on the traditional sources of weather information and overlooking the, by now, widespread used of GRIB forecasts.

Recommended as being useful for power or sail, motor boaters could benefit a little more from the expansion of techniques for mooring and handling to include, for example, bow-thruster tactics and sliding fender knots.

In all fairness, such minor criticisms can always be made of any “complete” work on the subject of seamanship and this compact treasury of boating wisdom justifies its space aboard any vessel making coastal passages or those conducting forays inland on Europe’s waterways. - DB

Publisher: Pen and Sword, £19.99
Publication Date: 2007

There is no doubt, as the First Sea Lord points out in his Foreword, that the story of Admiralty salvage operations needs telling. Despite Sir Jonathan’s assertions of ‘meticulous research’ I found this book disappointing.

From early attempts to salvage HMS Royal George which sank in 1782, the author moves on to the major salvage of HMS Montagu from the rocks of Lundy Island in 1906, carrying us forward through two world wars, the salvage of Comet Yoke Peter and up to the Persian Gulf by way of the Falklands.

The book is at its best when detailing individual operations, the essential preservation of essential merchantmen in the two world wars, and the recovery of the remains of Comet YP. But the momentous work of clearing the harbours of north-west Europe in the wake of German defeat seemed superficially dealt with and the last pages relating events in the Gulf seemed bogged down in MoD jargon.

All this I could forgive, if it were not for the errors. There are too many misspelt ship’s names, but also of the architect of the Suez Canal (De Lessops, apparently) and Quinton, rather than Quintin, Hogg. The author’s location of Port Arthur seems very odd to me, and while mistaking the Harmartis’s owners as Harrisons of Liverpool rather than Harrisons of London is understandable, claiming the poor Athenia to be a ‘Cunard liner’ when she belonged to Donaldsons is not, given her place in history.

Nit-pickingly nerdish I might be, but I finally lost patience when I encountered the Kola ‘Peninsular’ substituted for the Kola Peninsula. Unfortunately this is a particular bug-bear of mine and to the adjective in both the text and index finally blighted my opinion. Sorry, but there it is.- RMW