The vast majority of sailing yacht scenarios comprise a couple sailing the boat together, and needing to carry out all manoeuvres and activities themselves with no help from a back-up crew. Their boat handling, navigation, sail handling, anchoring and mooring skills all have to be carried out both efficiently and effectively, preferably with the minimum of physical effort (to conserve energy). But most sailing technique books assume a crew of 3 or 4, all willing to lend a hand. This book is therefore a first, addressing the most common sailing scenarios that anyone cruising will have to deal with, and providing clever, original, highly effective (and most importantly successfully tried and tested by the author) techniques and solutions for dealing with the huge variety of essential operations on a boat – from sail setting and reefing, to picking up mooring buoys in a variety of wind and tide situations, anchoring, berthing and leaving a pontoon shorthanded, picking up a man overboard, sailing in fog and heavy weather – and even going up the mast. This book will be a godsend to anyone sailing single or shorthanded – including couples with young children who need to be supervised by one parent whilst the other runs the boat. Organised into techniques for different cruising scenarios, the book features step by step sequential photos showing exactly how to approach each situation and carry out the task in hand.

"It takes thousands of hours of sailing to get the kind of knowledge contained in this book." -- from the Foreword by Bruce Schwab The ONLY bible for how to sail your boat fast, safe, and alone Solo sailing is within any sailor's grasp with a little forethought--and this essential guide. Got a 35-foot sailboat? No problem. Is the wind blowing 20 knots? No problem. Are you racing offshore overnight? Even better. Singlehander Andrew Evans learned the hard way how to sail and race alone--with lots of mishaps, including broaches and a near tumbling over a waterfall--and in Singlehanded Sailing he shares the techniques, tips, and tactics he has developed to make his solo sailing adventures safe and enriching. Learn everything you need to know to meet any solo challenge, including: Managing the power consumption aboard a boat to feed the electric autopilot Setting and gybing a spinnaker Finding time to sleep Dealing with heavy weather

What begins as the sheer desire for adventure turns into a spiritual quest as a young woman comes to terms with her family, her dreams, and her first love. Tania Aebi was an unambitious eighteen-year-old, a bicycle messenger in New York City by day, a Lower East Side barfly at night. In short, she was going nowhere—until her father offered her a challenge: Tania could choose either a college education or a twenty-six-foot sloop. The only catch was that if she chose the sailboat, she’d have to sail around the world—alone. She chose the boat, and for the next two and a half years and 27,000 miles, it was her home. With only her cat as companion, she discovered the wondrous beauties of the Great Barrier Reef and the death-dealing horrors of the Red Sea. She suffered through a terrifying collision with a tanker in the Mediterranean and a lightning storm off the coast of Gibraltar. And, ultimately, what began with the sheer desire for adventure turned into a spiritual quest as Tania came to terms with her troubled family life, fell in love for the first time, and—most of all—confronted her own needs, desires, dreams, and goals…

In 1976 International Marine published Singlehanded Sailing, an account of the experiences and techniques of the lone voyagers. It quickly became a classic in its field. Here for the first time in paperback is the long-awaited second edition. Henderson offers penetrating insights into the psychology of singlehanders, their vessels, gear, strategies, and techniques, plus vivid accounts of emergency experiences alone against the elements. The information is absorbing in its own right, but also of obvious value to a larger audience of cruising sailors who occasionally find themselves sailing singlehanded or shorthanded. Combined with a wealth of practical information is an overriding sense of the camaraderie of the sea, and Henderson's steadying hand as a master sailor and teacher. But much has changed since 1976. The growing popularity of singlehanded racing has spawned a wealth of technological breakthroughs: voyagers can now avail themselves of reliable autopilots, much lighter and more efficient rigs, microprocessor navigation, and satellite weather forecasting. Boats are bigger, lighter, and faster--and the costs and stakes are higher. Singlehanded sailing is at the leading edge of sailing technology. These innovations are of major import for the larger audience of cruising and shorthanded sailors, and Henderson explores these connections thoroughly. A chapter on "Singlehanding for Everyone," and a thoughtful and provocative conclusion, assess the contributions and possible future of singlehanding. Even more than in the first edition, Henderson achieves a remarkable combination--a practical how-to book that is also an eloquent contribution to the sailing literature. No better survey of singlehanded skills, boats, and hardware exists."--from the Foreword by John Rousmaniere What reviewers said about the first edition of Singlehanded Sailing: "This is more than just the most authoritative work to date on solo sailing. Because it deals with people who've had to be expert seamen to survive, the book becomes, perforce, a manual of great usefulness to any yachtsman contemplating a shorthanded voyage. Read it through once for perspective. Then put it with your navigation tables for ready reference when planning your next transatlantic."--Philip S. Weld "It is a distillation of the experience gained by hundreds of sailors during a century of singlehanded sailing, and a critical and technically detailed discussion of the equipment and techniques available today. Henderson writes not only for the prospective singlehander who plans to sail offshore alone, but for every cruising sailor who might find himself effectively alone, through accident, illness or the inexperience or other incapacity of his crew--and that, to me, means every cruising sailor."--John S. Letcher, Jr. "It is an excellent book, and I would consider it a disgrace for any Society member not to have a copy. Do not tell me you already have Borden, and Klein, and Merrien, and Holm, and Clarke, and etc., etc., so why should you buy another book on singlehanded sailing? Because reading maketh a full man."--Richard Gordon McCloskey, Slocum Society founder

Tristan Jones has logged more miles--and more adventure--sailing single-handed than any other person alive in our time. He has crossed the Atlantic many times, often alone, and has circumnavigated the globe in small boats. One Hand for Yourself, One for the Ship is a course on single-handed sailing by the man most qualified to give it. Tristan Jones offers his highly personal perspective on both the science and the art of this ultimate challenge. It is a book for every sailor, giving the novice and the experienced sailor alike invaluable information and advice simply and with humor. Rich with anecdote and detail, written as only Tristan Jones can write, this is the handbook to turn to when planning a trip and to refer to when sailing.

Traces a father and son journey around South America in a tiny boat they built together

In early 1968, desperate entrepreneur Donald Crowhurst was trying to sell a nautical navigation device he had developed when he saw that the Sunday Times would be sponsoring the Golden Globe Race, the first ever solo, round-the-world sailing competition. An avid amateur sailor, Crowhurst sensed a marketing opportunity and shocked the world by entering the competition using an untested trimaran of his own design. Shock soon turned to amazement when he quickly took the lead, checking in by radio message from locations far ahead of his seasoned competitors. But on July 10, 1969, roughly eight months after he had sailed from England--and less than two weeks from his expected triumphant return--his wife was informed that his boat, the Teignmouth Electron, had been discovered drifting quietly, abandoned in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Crowhurst was missing, assumed drowned. How did he come to such an end when his race had begun with such incredible promise? In this masterpiece of investigative journalism, Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall reconstruct one of the greatest modern stories of one man's descent into self-delusion, public deception, and madness. Based on in-depth interviews with Crowhurst's family and friends, combined with gripping excerpts from his logbooks that revealed (among other things) he had been falsifying his locations all along, Tomalin and Hall paint an unforgettable, haunting portrait of a complex, deeply troubled man and his final fateful journey.

Fascinating firsthand narrative recounts author's circumnavigation of the globe in 34-foot sailboat he built himself. Tropical islands, natives, exotic ports, storms, near-shipwreck, many other adventures. 61 photographs.