Book Review

By Mark J. Gabrielson Published by the Marion-Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race Association, Inc.   148 pages   hardcover   $50 Since the very first Marion-Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race in 1977, this biennial event has embraced a Corinthian spirit, with all yachts and sailors (many of them families) participating for the joy and pleasure of sailing, competition, and the camaraderie that develops from making an offshore passage to a rendezvous on one of the world’s loveliest islands. Well crafted by author…

By Audrey Sutherland Published by Patagonia Edition   171 and 303 pages   paperback   $16.95 each In the world of adventure paddling, Audrey Sutherland is a legend and a true heroine. Known and admired for her solo wilderness expeditions, Audrey’s philosophy was “Go simple, go solo, go now,” a mantra by which she lived fully until age 94. Audrey crossed the bar in 2015, and her friends at Patagonia are celebrating her remarkable life with updated commemorative editions of…

By Steven Ujifusa Published by Simon & Schuster   427 pages   hardcover   $29.99 In the mid-nineteenth century, American clipper ships were the fastest boats on the water. These magnificent craft revolutionized global trade; their unprecedented speed allowing merchants to bring tea, silk, porcelain and other luxury goods from China to market twice as fast as rival ships from Great Britain. This commerce, with goods purchased with profits from the opium trade, fueled the United States’ growth into an…

Published by Adlard Coles, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 277 pages hardcover $28 A new book from John Kretschmer is always something to look forward to, and his latest, Sailing to the Edge of Time, may be his best yet. A gifted writer, photographer, sailor, philosopher and lecturer whose successful sail training business aboard his Kaufman 47 Quetzal utilizes a hands-on and uniquely philosophical approach to offshore sailing, John Kretschmer has completed twenty-six transatlantic and two…

$12.95 paperback, $8.95 ebook Although well over 100 books have been reviewed in the pages of WindCheck, The Accidental Captain has the distinction of being the first to make this reviewer laugh before even opening it. On the cover is the smiling author, Glenn Patron, blissfully unconcerned by the imminent sinking of his somewhat-less-than-Bristol fashion vessel. She’s listing heavily to port, detritus-filled cockpit awash as gear floats away while he raises a glass in a toast to…

One Woman’s Journey for the Love of Her Wooden Boat Growing up on her family’s ranch in Oklahoma, Kaci Cronkhite never saw the ocean until she was 20. By the time she was 40, she’d sailed around the world. A voyage in 2001 brought her to Port Townsend, WA, and she remained in town for the Wooden Boat Festival. Finding herself temporarily grounded after the events of September 11, she decided to stay in the “City of…

With an abiding, lifelong love of Lake Michigan inspired by the gift of A Childs’ Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson when she was a child, Mary McKSchmidt met the man she would marry, a self-described “boataholic” named Rubin, shortly after graduating from Michigan State University and was soon crewing on his Hobie Cat. Larger boats and adventures throughout the lakes would follow over the next three decades.

You’d do well, however, to increase your knowledge of the subject by reading good books, and The Complete Day Skipper by Tom Cunliffe, originally published in 2002 and now in its 5th edition, is among the best.

Recorded in 1979 at a folk club in Toronto called The Groaning Board and lovingly remastered by the folks at Borealis Records, Between the Breaks…Live! captures the formidable power of Stan’s concerts.

A Sailing Surfer’s Voyage of Awakening

By Captain Liz Clark