Nigel Calder's Cruising Handbook: A Compendium for Coastal and Offshore Sailors

I wish I had bought this book before I bought my newest old boat - my personal survey would have been much more effective. This book covers so much, so well. Mr. Calder obviously not only has the knowledge but the motivation to really think about what should go into each area. He covers choosing, maintaining, upgrading, and cruising a boat to just the right degree that if you had no other resources, this book would usually suffice. And he does this in such a relatively small book.

The strength of this book is its readability. Calder writes very well, and he organizes this book in a way that makes it something one can read from cover to cover. Reading his work actually makes you want to be sailing.His treatment of yacht design is a fantastic walk through the desireable characteristics of yachts for cruising. If you are buying a boat, read this book before you finalize your decision. Calder acknowledges that every boat is a compromise, and he clearly favors traditional design over modern lines (he repeatedly expresses his distaste for wing keels, for example). The book then progresses through different sailing and cruising skills and issues. His discussion of anchoring is one of the best I have seen, and he does an admirable job of explaining marine weather. The one thing to keep in mind about this book is that it is rather "blue sky". He describes the ultimate cruising yacht (which looks remarkably like his own) and tends to overcook some of the concerns with "lesser" designs. Not everyone can afford to have a brand new Pacific Seacraft 40 built for them from scratch, but this is the boat Calder essentially lists as the perfect cruising yacht.

Ordinarily,I would not get too excited about another new cruising book,even one by so eminent an author as Calder, whose previous work: Boatowner's Mechanical And Electrical Manual, has become an icon on both sides of the pond. While the cruising genre is a particular favorite of mine, recent offerings seem to have grown a bit redundant for those of us striving to keep abreast of the field.This book of Calder's is a whole new ball game.First of all: It's a very big book both physically, and in terms of it's diverse subject matter. At just under six hundred pages in an 8 ½ x 11inch format, it is not something I would refer to as a "handbook" unless speaking to a gorilla. The word "encyclopedic" springs to mind, as it is truly monumental in scope and execution... McGraw-Hill did a commendable job of putting it all together. It looks like it might last, even in the marine environment where it will most assuredly find a home. It features a water resistant cover and flexible spine, designed to lie flat when opened, a wonderful feature on a pitching chart table, far at sea, where information is scarce and time of the essence.It covers nearly everything. It covers it in exquisite detail. It covers it in a manner anyone can understand. There are chapters relating to most any conceivable contingency a cruiser might run in to, from boat selection, equipage, and maintenance, to the more esoteric areas of daily life on a cruising sailboat (and much more than I wanted to know about navigational history). Calder remains the quintessential "systems" man and his section on surveying a prospective purchase, with it's attendant checklist, is, alone, worth the price of the book. The section on weather and prediction should be required reading for every television forecaster in the country. There are up to date chapters on shipboard health, and disease prevention criteria for every sector of the world. Nearly every page is clearly illustrated, and at the end of each technical chapter a "worksheet" so that you may evaluate your own vessel or system. Here is a man not afraid to infuse his material with the very latest in technological know how, even though it may at some point appear dated. For the mathematically inclined there are charts, graphs and formulas enough to satisfy the most gifted. And all this, is just the tip of the iceberg. I have read this book cover to cover and word for word (it took a very long time). Is it the proverbial "One Book Cruising Library" - the definitive work on the subject?I think it may well be.

This book goes into the detail necessary to outfit a cruising boat. The pictures and diagrams make the concepts very clear, and easy to implement. Many books have a few great ideas, but Calder concetrates them in one spot. The 18 page "Checklist of Desirable Features" at the end of the first section is worth the price of the book alone!

In my point of view, I like the practical and no-non sense approach. It goes beyond the simplistic explanation but still serves beginners, who ignore details, into this subject. A pleasure to read, very friendly written. Realistic explanations, a real gem to follow. Now that I have read it, I will keep it on board. The book starts anywhere, it is all equally atractive and appropriate.