The Glenans Manual of Sailing

I found the book to be very helpful if a little too detailed. My only real complaint is that some of the French humor doesn't translate well into English, leading to some distracting prose.

This book has to be the most complete single book on sailing. Among the topics covered are sailboarding, fiberglass repair, and catamaran trim. The book does have a European bias, however, so the sections on weather and buoyage aren't as useful for an American audience as, say, those in the Annapolis book. It also has quirky sidebars, like how to make a collapsing log. It's an invaluable reference and a good read.

The Glenans school has been teaching sailing since WWII, and the wealth of practical experience they have shows in this book. This is the best single volume on sailing that I have seen; it combines clear explanations of the physics behind sailing with a vast amount of hands-on knowledge.For American readers, I will point out two caveats: firstly, in the chapter on meteorology, the book spends a fair amount of time discussing Mediterranean weather. Secondly, when discussing bouyage, the book uses the European system, which is different than the American one (the difference is explained in a sidebar.)I highly recommend this book to any sailor.