Titles in Sailing & Boating

In 1895, emissaries from the New York Yacht Club traveled to Deer Isle, Maine, to recruit the nation's best sailors, an "All American" crew. This remote island in Penobscot Bay sent nearly 30 of its fishing men to sail Defender, and under skipper Hank Haff, they beat their opponents in a difficult and controversial series. To the delight of the American public, the charismatic Sir Thomas Lipton sent a surprise challenge in 1899. Listen to their fascinating story and relive their adventure.

This charming account of the voyage of two men in a small boat half way round the world from Plymouth to New Zealand in 1953 is a rare insight into a time, not long ago, when sailors had no GPS, electronics, radio or any of the mod cons that we take for granted today. Without lifejacket or a life raft, they 'just took what came along', hand steering all the way, navigating by sextant, hand-cranking their engine and using oil lamps for light at night and for navigation. Sailors will be staggered how primitive conditions were only a few decades ago, even though it was the norm at the time.

Derek Sheppard is an avid kayaker with many years experience in buying, selling, and paddling all different kinds of kayaks. He has also introduced many novices into this great sport. Are you contemplating buying a kayak but you're not sure where to start? You don't want to be taken for a ride and you're confused by the huge variety of kayaks out there? He was just like you when he first started out.

The fog is just beginning to disperse after sunrise but this is not a problem for navigation because you are just going to follow the western shore. You are the first person in when the gate opens at the West Bay Park and your hand launched vessel slides effortlessly into the water. You are off. You pass a tiny Island 50 yards from the launch. Islands no matter how small always excite my mind. The island is perhaps 20' wide and has one small stick like tree growing on it.

Whether he's chasing sailfish in Panama or hunting dove and quail deep in Mexico, Gordon England pursues outdoor sports with a passion for the biggest and best. In this collection he catches huge dolphin in the Exumas, races motocross through woods both on and off the trails, hunts ducks in brutal Texas snow and ice, hooks hopelessly large blue marlin in Nassau, and gets lost at sea in a monstrous Gulf of Mexico storm.

There has never been a better time to begin boating on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Bargains on boats are everywhere and boats of every type can bring a lifetime of pleasure and memories to everyone. From wooden skiffs to cruise ships, the Bay is alive with vessels carrying folks fishing, thrill seeking or just puttering along and enjoying the breezes and the land of pleasant living.

In the Year of the Shark, a chance encounter between a ne'er-do-well writer and a tropical storm left him marooned on the deserted end of a Caribbean island and charged with the rescue of his four shipmates. There, Mishka Shubaly learned some valuable life lessons - among them that in the absence of whiskey, wine, and water, urine will get the job done.

A collection of thrilling diving stories.There's everything from classic tales of wreck discoveries to encounters with beautiful and bizarre creatures beneath the waves. There are stories of death and disaster as well as bravery and triumph. Each tale has been chosen to stoke the fire of divers everywhere and some are illustrated with colour photographs.Take the plunge and read about the diver who discovered how to put sharks in a trance and the marine biologist who lost a limb trying to prove that sharks were safe to swim with.

City girl Torre DeRoche isn’t looking for love, but a chance encounter in a San Francisco bar sparks an instant connection with a soulful Argentinean man who unexpectedly sweeps her off her feet. The problem? He’s just about to cast the dock lines and voyage around the world on his small sailboat, and Torre is terrified of deep water. However, lovesick Torre determines that to keep the man of her dreams, she must embark on the voyage of her nightmares, so she waves good-bye to dry land and braces for a life-changing journey that’s as exhilarating as it is terrifying.

He wants to buy a sailboat and head off into the sunset for a life of adventure on white sandy beaches and crystal clear blue water, but she's not so sure about this wild plan. If she's not on board with the cruising dream, the boat won't leave the dock. Your wife is more important to The Dream than any piece of cruising gear. Save yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of life by investing both in to make sure she's on board.

It was one of the strangest sights the Coast Guard pilots had ever seen: a tall-masted wooden ship, the kind that sailed centuries ago, capsizing in the wind and towering waves of Hurricane Sandy off the coast of North Carolina. It looked like something out of a movie - and, in a way, it was. The ship was the Bounty, a replica of a British merchant vessel of the same name whose crew famously mutinied in 1789. She had been built for a Marlon Brando film in the 1960s - and now she was sinking, her 16-person crew fleeing into the sea amid the splintered wood and torn canvas.

On an overcast April day in 2003, David and James Livingston raced against each other in the 149th Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. Watched by over seven million people, it was the first time for over 100 years that brothers had battled against each other in this gladiatorial contest. Only one could be victorious. In Blood Over Water, David and James tell their stories for the first time, giving an intimate insight into one of our best-loved national sporting occasions, whilst also describing a brotherly relationship tested to breaking point.

Set in the remote arctic region of Northern Canada, this book takes listeners on a harrowing canoe voyage that results in tragedy, redemption, and, ultimately, transformation. George Grinnell was one of six young men who set off on the 1955 expedition led by experienced wilderness canoeist Art Moffatt. Poorly planned and executed, the journey seemed doomed from the start. Ignoring the approaching winter, the men became entranced with the peace and beauty of the arctic in autumn.

By the same author as the best-selling Total Loss, this is a new collection of terrifying and compelling accounts of yachts lost at sea. The seven deadly causes of loss continue to take their toll, and Paul Gelder has compiled firsthand accounts of shipwreck and sinking caused by collision, gear failure, stress of weather, faulty navigation, fire, crew failure, and exhaustion. The moving, emotionally charged descriptions of shipwrecked sailors abandoning their yachts at sea will have you on the edge of your seat.

Proving that sailing is not just the husband's pursuit, this charming narrative of one couple's first long distance voyage is told from the wife's perspective. Writing in a lively, humorous way, Sandra Clayton gives an entertaining account of her and husband David's maiden cruise from the UK, down the Atlantic coast and into the warm waters of the Mediterranean. Conscious that old age or poor health could prevent them from sailing away for much longer, they left the world of work behind to chase their dream of adventure.

Most people at some point long to escape - from the weather, the commute, the routine. Sailing off in a 40-foot boat called Voyager comes at a price, however. Indeed, for David and Sandra Clayton it meant selling their house and possessions with a lifetime's collection of memories and emotions attached to them. But the result proved life-enhancing. With her eye for detail and vivid descriptions, Sandra carries the listener with her through some of the Mediterranean's loveliest islands.

In 2006, Dee Caffari became the first woman to sail solo round the world against the prevailing winds and currents. Her story is an adventure in the true sense of the word. It is about physical hardship in terrible conditions, overcoming solitude, sleep deprivation, the worry of crucial equipment failing, 34 days of gales, 12 metre waves, cyclones and a lightning strike. It is also about a woman who stepped outside her safe zone, gave up a good job and financial security, all because she wanted to sail.

Named one of Time Magazine International's 30 most important people of 2005, Maud Fontenoy presents us with a terrific, entertaining adventure story on the high seas as she challenges the Pacific Ocean - a feat no woman before her ever accomplished. Already the first woman to row alone across the North Atlantic, Maud raised the bar to defy the elements, the daunting solitude, and the circling sharks of the South Pacific on her second solo voyage.

Normality is so over-rated. Boat life is better. In her debut memoir Narrow Margins, Marie Browne saved her family from financial ruin by moving her long-suffering husband, three children, and a dog on to a houseboat called Happy Go Lucky in search of a less stressful, alternative way of life. Now in Narrow Minds the family find themselves sucked back into normality, they’re pretty much back where they started: horrible house, no boat, and the kids are beginning to threaten mutiny.

After exploring the Eastern Caribbean for several years on their 34-foot Creekmore, Connie McBride, her husband, and their 16-year-old son sailed away from their adopted home of St. Croix, west across the Caribbean to Bocas del Toro, Panama. What they found there will delight the reader as the archipelago comes alive in Eurisko Sails West: A Year in Panama. Howler monkeys, red frogs, and sloths in the jungle are accompanied by a symphony of parrots, oro pendula, toucans, and macaws.