Welcome to the Sheridan House Newsletter.
Here you'll find the latest news on author events,
articles, new features and special offers.
TOP STORIES
Around Again
Tania Aebi, famed author of the bestseller Maiden Voyage, and more recently, of our book I've Been Around, is due to depart shortly for the first half of a circumnavigation she is planning with her children. They will be sailing on Shangri-La, a DeVilliers 36 steel cutter, from Curacao in the Caribbean via Cartagena, Columbia and the San Blas Islands to the Panama Canal, the Perlas Islands, the Galapagos, the Marquesas and on toTahiti.
Plans are for the two boys, Nicholas (16) and Sam (13) to complete the circumnavigation from thereon with their father, Olivier, cruising the South Pacific to Australia to be joined there by their granddad Ernst Aebi for the grand finale across the Indian Ocean to Cape Town, South Africa and home.
Tania will be reporting regularly and you are invited to follow her on the journey.
Log on to www.boatus.com/cruising
Then click on the link Tania Aebi and Shangri-La.
Fair winds, Tania, from all of us at Sheridan House.
The Mariners Book of Days 2008
The Mariner's Book of Days, now in its sixteenth year, has been hailed as the best, most entertaining nautical desk diary and calendar to see print. Each annual edition is completely different from its predecessors, and all have gone on to become collector's items. On every right-hand page is a day-by-day accounting of historical events and space for daily notes, appointments, and reminders. On each left-hand page is a fascinating miscellany of what Robert Louis Stevenson once called "the entertainment of fooling among boats."
With passion and humor, creator Peter Spectre delivers a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual reminder of the things we love most about the watery world: the pleasures of choosing, building, and maintaining our own boat; the intricacies of seamanship and navigation; the development of nautical knowledge; the traditions of the sea; the evolution of a way of life. The Mariner's Book of Days is a timeless companion that deserves a place on any bookshelf long after its work as a calendar is done. Entertaining, informative, and illustrated with a variety of lovely etchings, engravings, sketches, and watercolors, it will take you on an unforgettable 365-day voyage through history.
2008 edition $13.95
Special Price offer: 2 or more copies only $12.00
Order Now!
Note: The special quantity price will not appear on your web order but it will be taken into account when your order is processed.
Ever Wonder?
The August edition of SAIL, the largest circulation sailing magazine, has a
nice splash about our new book Do Dolphins Ever Sleep? by Pierre-Yves and Sally Bely. Located in the popular Under Sail section in the front pages instead of in the book reviews, this delightful write-up featuring a handful of questions and brief answers from the book is bound to stimulate demand from the large readership.
Here is a brief update on our fall titles. Just published is The Golden Age
of Yachting, a magnificent reissue of L. Francis Herreshoff's classic "An Introduction to Yachting". New foreword by Peter Spectre of Mariner's Book of Days fame (2008 edition now available).
Available early August will be the reprint of Ernest K. Gann's sailing
memoir Song of the Sirens with an introduction by SAIL editor Charles Doane. Same text, but a beautiful new cover photo of Albatros, Gann's favorite boat.
May Publicity Bonanza
For Sheridan House, May will bring two important reviews in major sailing magazines while a third one is running an excerpt from a brand new book of ours.
Copies of the new, third edition of Sailing Big on a Small Sailboat have reached the stores just recently. Long a successful book, this new edition is getting a great boost from the excerpt in the May issue of Sailing Magazine. The book's long popularity is built on Jerry Cardwell's First Law of the Sea: "You can sail big on a small sailboat far more easily and for much less money than you can sail small on a big sailboat." The 2007 edition, updated and expanded by yachting journalist Dieter Loibner, complements the original premise with loads of new boats, ideas and tips.
SAIL Magazine features in its May issue a brief but highly positive review of John Payne's Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible, also just released in its third edition. Here is the review in full: "Electrical problems are not an inevitable part of cruising and racing. An acceptable level of reliability is possible, and in fact is necessary," says author John Payne. His Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible will help you achieve this reliability with detailed information on selecting, installing, maintaining and troubleshooting all the electrical and electronic systems on your boat. The information is presented in classic textbook style, accompanied by tables, graphs, and wiring diagrams to make the information easy to find and understand. Each chapter is dedicated to a system, which is explained and thoroughly analyzed. This new edition is fully updated to include modern systems and new technologies.
Last but not least, I am particularly happy to see a long and detailed review of Les Weatheritt's Atlantic Crossings: a Sailor's Guide to Europe and Beyond. This fabulous guide is part cruising guide, part sailing tips and part travel book. Crammed with information and published late in the season (Oct. 2006), it had not yet received the well deserved attention from reviews and thus remained something of a sleeper. But the breakthrough is coming now in a very positive review in the May issue of Ocean Navigator, the most respected magazine for the serious bluewater sailor. Here is an excerpt from the review:
"Les Weatheritt has compiled a comprehensive guide to organizing and executing a safe and successful passage. The book is well suited to new sailors as well as those wishing to explore new and different routes or brush up on their bluewater voyaging skills... Reading "Atlantic Crossings" feels as though you have taken up with a seasoned captain who is taking care of all the details. Your only job is to follow his lead and cast off."
A Titanic Anniversary
On April 12, ship buffs all over the world will remember that this year is the 95th anniversary of the sinking of the TITANIC. Ten years ago, the excitement began earlier for Sheridan House. It all started with a handwritten letter from London from someone who identified herself as the niece and heir of a Violet Jessop who had served as a stewardess all her working life. Among the ships she had sailed were the Titanic and her sistership, the Britannic. Her aunt had died in 1971 and left behind an unfinished manuscript of her life story.
Yes, Violet Jessop had survived the sinking of both these gigantic ocean liners and she had written about it. Was it genuine, and why did nobody know about?
After a process of authentication which involved the late Walter Lord, widely considered the doyen of Titanic scholars, and maritime historian John Maxtone-Graham, we decided to publish the book. Walter Lord gave us two unpublished letters from his private collection for inclusion in the book, a letter from another Titanic stewardess who wrote from New York to her sister in England about her rescue, and a letter from Violet Jessop having to do with the filming of Walter Lord’s “A Night to Remember.” John Maxtone-Graham, who is a frequent lecturer on cruise ships and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, edited the manuscript and provided essential historical and maritime background.
Titanic Survivor was published in the fall of 1997, shortly before the Titanic craze brought about by James Cameron’s blockbuster film “Titanic.” Our book has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide, with two editions published in the UK as well as editions in Australia and Brazil.
Ever since, no Titanic book has appeared without reference to Violet Jessop; TV documentaries have featured her story and so have numerous school texts from elementary school readers to college classes in women’s studies, labor history and of course maritime history. At last look, Google had some one thousand entries under her name.
Our book, originally published in hardcover, is now available only in paperback. The edition is unabridged and contains all of the photos. Just double-click on Titanic Survivor for more information.
We would also like to recommend a visit to one of the several permanent Titanic exhibits across the country. Addresses follow below:
Titanic Atlanta
Atlanta Civic Center
395 Piedmont Road
Atlanta, GA 30308
(866) 640-0303
Titanic Las Vegas
3801 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(800) 829-9034
Titanic San Francisco
Metreon - 101 Fourth Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 421-8497
My “Petronella” – A Boat Like Moitessier’s “Joshua”
Dare I say it? No boat is ideal, given the range of activities we demand of them when we go sailing. But few boats have the ocean-crossing pedigree of a Joshua like our Petronella. Only about 100 Joshuas were built, making Petronella a rare bird, yet she is instantly recognizable, an unmistakable classic, head-turning design. Wherever we go we will find some one stopping to stare in that knowledgeable way. “Is it?” they say. “Oui,” we reply, since this is the appropriate language. “C’est un Joshua.”
The Joshua almost came into existence by accident. Bernard Moitessier, already famous in France as a sailor but currently without a boat, had some clear ideas for his next boat. None of them were the Joshua. His friend and marine architect, Jean Knocker, already had plans drawn up when the man in charge of the industrial company META in France offered Moitessier the run of his factory and the gift of the steel to build his next boat. It was an offer that could not be refused. Moitessier and Knocker quickly finalized a design for a steel hull and Joshua came into being. She carries the double ender lines developed by Colin Archer and is named after the great Joshua Slocum. There could be no doubt that she was intended for some hard ocean passages.
Moitessier and his Joshua entered the record book for the non-stop journey from Tahiti in the Pacific to Alicante in Spain via the great Cape Horn. He wrote about this in “Cape Horn: the logical route”. It wasn’t just the distance which caught the attention of the world but the extreme storm they survived and the manner of their survival as they approached the Cape. However, what turned Moitessier into a world- renowned sailing legend was his manner of leaving the first round-the-world non-stop single-handed race, the Golden Globe of 1968. In those days a solo race round the world was a slog of more than ten and a half months compared to the sprint of three to four months these days. The eventual winner and only finisher, Englishman Robin Knox-Johnston on his heavy weight 32 foot Suhaili, had started more than five weeks before Moitessier but as he turned Cape Horn into the Atlantic Moitessier was confident that his Joshua was the faster boat and would soon overhaul Suhaili. Who knows? Moitessier, with a Gallic shrug, decided he had no wish for a silver cup and English prize money. He had discovered himself on the voyage and he was not a match racer. He sailed straight across the South Atlantic back into the Pacific to Tahiti to make him and the Joshua legends in his own lifetime.
For many of us, not just those who sail a Joshua, Moitessier remains one of the greatest of small boat sailors, whose greatness is intrinsically linked to the boat he sailed. There is no doubt that Moitessier appreciated Joshua's importance to him but he gave his beloved boat a hard life. Joshua was finally wrecked on a beach during an unseasonal storm, but not so badly that she was beyond recovery. Today she is a French national treasure, to be seen at the maritime museum in La Rochelle. Her hull, despite much renovation, bears the scars of many hard knocks. The French don’t believe in wrapping their treasures in cotton wool. Joshua is in regular use taking visitors sailing. Nor do they waste a good thing. A few years ago Joshua was “borrowed” by Bernard Peignon when his own boat wasn’t ready in time to complete the 500 mile qualifier for a single-handed Atlantic race. He was told on no account to take Joshua on the actual race. D’accord! But when start day came Peignon 's boat was still not ready so he raced the Joshua, was arrested in the USA, deported to France and given a nominal sentence of one day in prison.
Moitessier’s Joshua is not the only one to have been sailed hard. Northern Light, owned by Swedish Rolf Bjelke and American Deborah Shapiro, has been into the ice of both poles. We saw Northern Light in Martinique about seven years ago. Danish Stig Larson took his Joshua, Aurore, ice-dodging around Spitsbergen and was on his way home from Tierra del Fuego when we met him and Aurore in the Azores in 2003.
Our Petronella is not fast by modern standards nor close winded but she can make quick passages. We understand perfectly the words Moitessier thought he heard Joshua say: give me wind and I will give you miles. And she can achieve these passages without exhausting the crew. She is easy and forgiving enough for a single hander. Her long keel allows her to sail herself on the wind for days at a time, even without the rudder lashed. Her gentle lines give an easy motion and her immense strength of build and natural seaworthiness inspire enormous confidence.
Petronella has been our home for the last eight years. She brought us back from the Caribbean to Europe in 2004, with a wonderful year-long stop-over in the Azores on the way. She has a few more luxuries than my previous boats but at heart she is a simple boat with simple systems and we remind ourselves of the advantages of this when we sometimes crave an extra luxury.
PETRONELLA is a heavy displacement, round bilge double ender made from rolled steel plates with welded overlap. She is ketch rigged, almost flush decked, and has a short bowsprit. Most, like Petronella, have a centre cockpit but a few were built with an aft cockpit. To my eye they are all beautiful. Her details are:
Length LOA 39ft 8inches (12.20m)
Length WL 33ft 11inches (10.43m)
Beam 12ft (3.68m)
Draft 5ft 2 inches (1.60m)
Displacement 13.75 tons (14,000kg)
Courtesy of Les Weatheritt, author of Atlantic Crossings and Caribbean Passagemaking.
A Reminder for this America's Cup Year:
THE LAWSON HISTORY OF THE AMERICA'S CUP
This is an exclusive and unique opportunity to purchase a collector's copy of The Lawson History of the America's Cup. First published in 1902 as a limited run of 3,000 numbered copies, the book was reissued in1986 by Sheridan House in the U.S. and Ashford Press in the U.K., this time limited to only 1,500. Originally priced at $150, the book is long out of print, and used copies of both editions have fetched extraordinary bids.
Very low stock. Copies are $275 each plus postage ($18 US, $30 Canada, and $45 overseas).
New Excerpts and Reviews Added!
New excerpts of our books have been added to our Excerpts section. These include excerpts from the following titles:
Atlantic Crossings
The Barefoot Navigator
The Lilibet Logs
Understanding Boat Communications
Understanding Boat Electronics
The Wapping Group of Artists
Click on the titles to see the excerpts.
Also remember to check our Reviews section periodically for new titles and even newly found reviews for some of our older ones.
Sailing News - A Rescue and a Record
Two sailing stories made the news today, January 5, 2007: American solo
sailor Ken Barnes was rescued by a fishing boat alerted by the Chilean Navy
after drifting for three days on his disabled sailboat, only two months into
his planned circumnavigation.
Michael Perham, a 14 year old British sailor, broke the record of being the
youngest person ever to cross the Atlantic after he reached Antigua on his
28 ft. sailboat on a single-handed voyage from Gibraltar.
New Passport Requirements
Effective early January, American citizens traveling to Canada, Mexico and
the Caribbean will need to have valid United States passports.
Praise for Barefoot Navigator
"I don't believe there is anything like this book available. It teaches the fundamentals in a very fresh new way. The organization, topics, copy, and diagrams are all very good. The occasional humor keeps a smile on my face. I have learned some very interesting things about navigation and enjoyed every minute of it. I think you have got a bestseller on your hands."
--Peter Trogdon, Weems & Plath
WoodenBoat Features Classics of Sailing
The September/October 2006 issue of WoodenBoat magazine is something our readers don't want to miss.
In "A Quartet of Exceptional Ketches," Maynard Bray describes four of L. Francis Herreshoff's finest, including ROZINANTE, a boat we all know and love from The Compleat Cruiser. This delightful narrative is still in print with Sheridan House, and so is L. Francis' biography of his father, the famous Capt. Nat Herreshoff.
In another highly interesting article called "The Man Behind the Legend," Stan Grayson entertains and enlightens us with reflections about Capt. Joshua Slocum and SPRAY. There was more to Capt. Slocum than his famous Sailing Alone Around the World; we still offer his complete works in a single volume. The Voyages of Joshua Slocum, introduced and edited by the late Slocum scholar and biographer Walter M. Teller, is a rich and unique source of Slocum treasures.
David Preble Appointed to N.E. Fishery Management Council
Captain David Preble, accomplished author, was appointed to the New England Fishery Management Council on June 29,2006.The authority of the Regional Councils in fishery management is being strengthened in the re-authorization of the Magnuson-Stevens act, According to Preble, he intends to be aggressive in pursuing change. His appointment was due to his work on the Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council, as well as wide support from both commercial and recreational organizations. Preble 's most recent work The Fishes of the Sea has been featured in both Salt Water Sportsman and Fisherman Magazine. He holds a Master's Degree in Biology and a U.S. Merchant Marine License
Two books from Sheridan House for Joseph Conrad Anniversary
In anticipation of next year’s celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Conrad, Sheridan House will publish two important books early September.
A very significant title, not previously announced, is Joseph Conrad - Master Mariner by Alan Villiers. This unique and beautifully illustrated biography of Conrad’s ocean voyages had remained an unpublished manuscript for many years until Peter Villiers completed his father’s work.
Cruise of the Conrad is a reissue of a sailing classic by Alan Villiers, which has been out of print for many years. The tall ship Joseph Conrad on which Villiers sailed around the world in the 1930s, is one of the biggest attractions at the Mystic Seaport Museum.
The book covers and descriptions on our website will give you additional information.
Richard Woodman events in Mystic, CT and Newport, RI
Richard Woodman, Sheridan House author and noted British maritime historian and novelist, is making a brief study tour of New England this June. Captain Woodman signed copies of his books as well as talked about and read passages from his work at the Mystic Seaport Museum and Armchair Sailor Bookstore in Newport, RI.
Sheridan House has published 17 of Woodman's nautical novels, the famous 14-volume Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater series (historic fiction from the Napoleonic era with “characters as rich as Patrick O’Brian’s and as timeless as Forester’s Hornblower,” and three freestanding works of fiction, Wager, The Darkening Sea and Endangered Species. He is also the author of several non-fiction maritime works.
For more information on Woodman's work click http://www.sheridanhouse.com/fictionclassics.html
Visitors were delighted with Woodman's presentations and readings and thoroughly enjoyed meeting this remarkable writer and historian. We wish him Fair Winds for his sail back to the UK at the end of his visit to
our shores.
June 2006 reader's comment on Richard Woodman's Drinkwater series:
"Over the last few years I have read the 20 volume Aubriad and the 11 volume Horation Hornblower. I did not think there was going to be another reading experience of such pleasure to me in my life again. Now I have finished the 14 volume Drinkwater series and I am so much in debt to Mr. Woodman that I can't find words."
Reprinted by permission from Dr. B, Dix Hills, N.Y.
Updated PowerPoint presentation for
Coastal Navigation Using GPS
The PowerPoint presentation offered to instructors by Frank J. Larkin, author of the very successful textbook Coastal Navigation using GPS, has been newly updated.
Instructors using the Coastal Navigation using GPS textbook can request a free copy of the instructor's package prepared by author Frank Larkin. Materials include worksheets, course overview, registration form, and seventeen PowerPoint presentations. To receive the free CD, you must send us information on the school where you teach and course details. Proof of purchase or adoption of at least 10 copies of the book is also required. Write to customer service at info@sheridanhouse.com.
John Vigor Wins Southam Award
Sheridan House author John Vigor won the Southam Award for his book Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Started Sailing. The awards were presented by Sail America at the Miami Boat Show on February 16th. Awards are given annually to journalists, producers and authors for excellence in media communications. The awards honor those whose work in the preceding year has significantly contributed to spread the idea of sailing to a large audience.
John Vigor’s prize was awarded in the Expanded Outlets Category and his book is the only one to have earned a prize this year.
In prior years, Sheridan House author Tom Froncek has also won the Southam Award for his book A Splendid Madness and Susan Tyler Hitchcock was honored likewise for her book Coming About.
For the official press release and additional information go to http://www.sailamerica.com/southamrelease-2005.cfm
Tania Aebi on Moitessier
Onboard Joshua
(Ile d' Yeu- 2004)
"Before moving on to the real subject of this piece, I have to begin with another recent boat show story. Forgive me. But, as I was working in a book booth, people asked for recommendations, and kept pointing to one book in particular even though I'd never read it. Moitessier, A Sailing Legend
, by Jean-Michel Barrault. My endorsement was based solely on the cover picture of my hero, Bernard Moitessier, and the translator Janine Simon, who I trust as someone who wouldn't have bothered translating something that wasn't good.
"One man bought a bagful of other books and passed over this one while saying, "Yeah, that Montessori guy. I like him."
"Well if you really liked him as much as I do, you wouldn't be confusing Moitessier with an early childhood educational system," I wanted to say then, but saved it for here, because the important thing about his flip comment was that he liked Moitessier. Even though he didn't buy the book, somehow, his remote awareness of the man was centered around a good feeling, which leads to the real subject: Bernard Moitessier, himself. Since I'd been recommending it, I returned home and read the book. Now, for anyone who never heard the Moitessier story, it's time for an introduction. And, for those who already know it, let this be a reminder.
"But first here is a fuzzy fragment of a memory I have from an actual encounter with the man. Not long after I read Moitessier's book,
The Long Way, for the first time, for advice and inspiration, I was nineteen and on my own solitary voyage. In Tahiti, tied up to portside rocks beyond Papeete's cement quay, I saw some boats anchored in deep water, among them, a red boat.
"That's Moitessier's," someone says in the memory, and my reaction to the rust-streaked hull, the awnings, the general aura of a vessel with personality, the name associated with it, is awestruck. Just seeing his boat makes me feel like I could be a more free-spirited sailor, in the same way an encounter with John Belushi in a nightclub ladies bathroom once made me feel like I could be funnier. In following years, I add to the vision—an older, sage-like man, a younger exotic beauty, their child, a trio embodying the ruggedly bohemian seafaring type who have completely conformed to the washed out, salty, uncommitted, live-aboard life I romanticize. While sticking to my more rigid time schedule and plans, I know Moitessier has become a sailing legend because of one singular act that defied all schedules and plans. It's what most people who know the Moitessier name know him for.
"In 1968, I was a toddler when Moitessier entered the first single-handed, around-the-world race. The rules were simple: Alone, nonstop, starting whenever. The first one back was the first one back. Those were the days when there were still a few firsts to make, when astronauts, motorcycle stuntmen, peak baggers, and sailors could return from their quests as superhuman heroes.
"The race was a big deal, a major challenge. Single-handedly, with no engines, navigating with sextants, cooking and reading by kerosene, and gathering rainwater in sails, these men surfed around the bottom of the globe where mountainous waves, howling gales, loneliness, and fatigue made fame and glory absolutely meaningless. Out there, as they plied eastward across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, the only news the world had of these sailors came from ships that crossed their paths, and the only news the sailors had about the world, and their own position in the race, came from the radio.
"For seven months straight, Moitessier's only glimpses of land were off the Capes, the Falkland Islands, Tasmania, from where he attempted to send word home. Off South Africa, the ship that took his message hit him during the maneuver, and while passing the southernmost tip of New Zealand, dolphins warned him when the wind shifted and pushed him towards some rocks.
"The funny thing was that land, not the sea, made him nervous. He liked to be far from it, so when it came time to hang a left in the South Atlantic, to head north and home to find out how well he had placed, Moitessier bailed out. By the last leg up from Cape Horn to England, unbeknownst to him, he had almost caught up with the leader who was nursing his battered boat north. At this point in the race, they were the only ones left, except for one straggler who almost finished before losing his boat off the Azores. And another, who made a name for himself as the race entrant who sailed circles in the South Atlantic while broadcasting false positions home, until guilt and the kind mind that would conceive of such a plan drove him to suicide, and his boat was found adrift.
"Since the BBC never talked about the race and its competitors while Moitessier was listening to the radio, when he faced the home stretch and made that fork in the road decision for which he would always be remembered, he had no idea he could have been the likely winner, if that would have mattered. In the end, he was a cruiser, not a racer. Instead, he chose his famously long route, forgoing Europe and sailing three months, and half the planet more, onward to Tahiti. Imagine that. To have been at sea for seven months straight and with the end in sight, to deliberately continue sailing the roughest waters on Earth for three more months. That's what Moitessier did. After crossing his outbound path, he kept going and sling-shotted a message to the decks of a freighter off South Africa telling Europe he wasn't coming back, "to save my soul," he wrote.
"With this act, Moitessier became a guru of sorts, a zen symbol of a yearning to reject the technocratic monsters of modern society and embrace the beauty and simplicity of the ancient seas. To not want anything else. And, to make the choice in a very publicly dramatic way. What a message. This is the Moitessier legend. It is what I knew about Moitessier when I thought I saw him and his boat in Tahiti almost 20 years after his trip, and why I carried this memory with me for 20 more years, around the world and back home again, past his death, and into my own future. Until now.
"Reading the book, Moitessier, A Sailing Legend, and closely examining the timeline of his life, I discovered he was nowhere near Tahiti when I was there. I totally invented the memory, but I don't care. I also learned there was a lot more to the man who made that unforgettable choice, and that a free spirit isn't necessarily a happy or contented one, unless he can find a place to land. Moitessier couldn't. Jean Michel Barrault's first person account of his work with Moitessier is very sensitive to the man who accomplished something huge with such vulnerability, making him heroically human.
"Moitessier published two books before The Long Way, two more after it, but as far as his editor and long time friend, Barrault remembers him most of all as the altruistic sailor who was never able to find serenity and purpose ashore, even as he inspired not just me, but generations of other cruising sailors seeking our own personal truths from the sea. Whether or not these truths can be found anywhere, we all need heroes to inspire us to keep seeking. I knew I could trust Janine. Moitessier, A Sailing Legend is a good book about a great man, definitely worth recommending. May he finally rest in peace."
Reprinted by permission from Latitudes & Attitudes , January 2006.
Words from the Wise
As part of its longstanding series "Commonsense Cruising" (see our anthology SAIL Book of Commonsense Cruising), SAIL Magazine, in the September 2005 issue, featured an article on hurricane precautions and anchor handling by Don Casey, Charles J. Doane and Don Street, all well-known boating writers.
A prominent sidebar featured the following excerpts from our book
Ready for Sea! by Tor Pinney:
"The more sophisticated the system, the more prone it is to failure in the abusive environment of salt air, scorching sun and rough seas. Inevitably, you'll be glad to have a simpler piece of gear as a back up, standing by to replace primary equipment that fails. For example the dinghy may be propelled by an outboard motor, but you'd better also carry a pair of oars aboard for when (when, not if) the motor stops running. Or, when the fresh-water pump or electric bilgepumps fail, there needs to be a hand or foot pump already in place to take over.
"A leadline will sound water depth when the digital depthsounder breaks. An emergency tiller will cover temporarily for a broken steering-wheel cable, and a bucket for a toilet. When the GPS packs it in, you've got to carry and know how to use a sextant for offshore navigation without electronics. This backup philosophy applies to every piece of essential equipment aboard."
Moitessier's Autobiography Reissued
Tamata and the Alliance, the famous literary autobiographical work by
Bernard Moitessier, is now being reprinted and will be available again by
mid-November, just in time for Christmas giving. The reprint will be exactly
like the original 1995 hardcover edition, including the color photos, and we
are pleased to announce that we are holding the retail price of $35, at
least for the time being.
This monumental work, which has been unavailable in English for almost a
year, is the ideal companion to the Moitessier biography by Jean-Michel
Barrault which we published a few months ago. Reserve your copy now.
Translating Moitessier's biography
Bernard Moitessier, whom I have unfortunately never met, has fascinated me for the last twenty years, both as a writer and as a sailor. As the editor at Sheridan House, I have been instrumental in selecting his books for our publishing program and I have actually edited the translations of two of his books, his wonderfully written autobiography
Tamata and the Alliance and his only practical book, A Sea Vagabond's World, which was published posthumously.
Before Sheridan House, I was a translator and interpreter, and having been born in Paris, I am now perfectly bilingual. Thus, I was able to read much of Bernard's work in the original French. We first came across the biography Moitessier - A Sailing Legend last summer when my husband and I were in Paris for a few days after my mother passed away. We switched on the TV just once and found ourselves in the middle of a program on Moitessier. This program, amid historical film clips, featured two new books. We were immediately intrigued by Jean-Michel Barrault's biography and decided to acquire English language rights.
The translation went better than expected and we published the book within a year. Our friend Jeremy McCreary at Cruising World was kind enough to edit the editor. Speaking of kindness, Peter Nichols agreeing to write an introduction was a real joy. The best-selling author of A Voyage for Madmen starts his introduction by saying that Moitessier was one of his heroes.
Even after all this study of Bernard Moitessier and his work I remain puzzled by his incredible popularity among American sailors. He truly is a guru. Hardly a nautical book is being published that doesn't mention Moitessier, his sailing exploits and his writings. He is so “Un-American,” not the celebrated winner but rather the determined loser of the Golden Globe race. And yet his name is nowhere as close to magic as in the United States except perhaps in his native France. Vive la difference!
Janine Simon
Article on Douglas Robertson's Last Voyage of the LUCETTE
“What is it like to be Adrift in the Pacific Ocean for 38 Days?” asks Esquire magazine in an article on Douglas Robertson's Last Voyage of the LUCETTE. The August edition of this popular men's magazine features a series on what it would be like to survive various disasters and exploits. Robertson chronicles, in diary fashion, the sinking of the boat and the hardships, disappointments and uncanny beauty his family experienced while trapped aboard a life raft and dinghy. Robertson's account stands out for its hopefulness and appreciation of life in the face of death.
You can read selections of this article at http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/Esquire/2005/08/01/923118 and Robertson's entire account in his book, The Last Voyage of the LUCETTE.
Keeping up with Webb Chiles
Catch up with renowned author Webb Chiles and his latest sailing adventures. His most recent book, Return to the Sea, recounts his circumnavigation about THE HAWKE TUONELA.
Sheridan House Adds Shopping Cart
Now you can shop with complete confidence using our secure shopping cart to point and click your way to your favorite Sheridan House titles. When you find a book in our online catalog that you would like to purchase, simply click on the "buy now" icon and follow the easy directions to check out.
If you wish to purchase and continue browsing, instead click on the "add to cart" icon. This will allow you to place the book in your shopping basket while you continue to shop. To return to our catalog, simply click the homepage icon in the navigation bar at the top of the store's page.
If you know exactly which titles you wish to purchase, you can search for them on our homepage and purchase them directly.
You can place one order, or, better yet, set up a customer account that will remember your name, address and credit card information. The next time you order online simply sign in under "accounts" and all you will have to fill out is your order and shipping method.
Our secure, industry-standard 28-bit encryption guarantees the safety of your transaction as well as your personal information.
We hope to make your shopping experience easier and more convenient. If you have any questions or difficulties with the new shopping cart, please feel free to email us at orders@sheridanhouse.com.
Author, Douglas Robertson, featured on National Geographic Channel mini-series
Don't miss Douglas Robertson, author of The Last Voyage of the LUCETTE,in the National Geographic Channel's new mini-series, “Expeditions to the Edge” to air in late-March. Robertson's new book offers new insight and perspective to his father's classic narrative, Survive the Savage Sea. He not only recounts the incredible story of the shipwreck of his family's schooner, LUCETTE, and their survival on a 9-foot dinghy for 38 days, but tells a deeper, more human story of people and relationships put to the test at sea. “Expeditions to the Edge” is sure to compliment Robertson's arresting and engaging account of this classic adventure. Check your local listings for more details.
A Year of Sailing
From Sailing Magazine, December 2004:
"Another year of sailing has just about come and gone. We hope it was, for you, one of fair winds, clear skies and following seas. And may the next 12 months be even better.
"A sure way to add a little excitement throughout the year is to hang one of the many sailing-themed calendars that come out this time of year on the shop or office wall. Whether filled with great, action-filled color photography or obscure trivia, they make a great way to vicariously set the sails 365 days a year.
"One calendar we look forward to getting every year is the Mariner's Book of Days from Sheridan House. This nautical desk diary and calendar is an ever-growing encyclopedia of marine fact, fiction and folklore. Entertaining and informative, every year the calendar is updated, making it a keeper well after the year is over and done. On the right-hand page of the spiral-bound book is a week of days with room for notes, while each day's nautical significance is briefly detailed by author Peter H. Spectre. Meanwhile, a collection of seafaring miscellany and illustrations adorn the opposite page."
Sailing Magazine Chooses the Top 20 Solo Sailors of All Time
Solitude at Sea
February 2004
In the February '04 issue of Sailing magazine, Nic Compton and the editors presented a list of the twenty singlehanders throughout history that "have made the greatest impact on the sport of solo sailing." Occupying the top spots were three Sheridan House authors.
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