First Sailing / Sea Book You Ever Read ?

[barnakiel]

Pik the Mouse - a story of a field mouse sailing a river in a raft.

Ages ago. Ages.

b.

[Pelagic]

“Sailing to the Reef” by Bernard Moitessier was my first and still favorite book

Bernard Moitessier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


"You do not ask a tame seagull why it needs to disappear from time to time toward the open sea. It goes, that's all."


"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present. In this limitless nation, this nation of wind, light, and peace, there is no other ruler besides the sea."


"My real log is written in the sea and sky; the sails talking with the rain and the stars amid the sounds of the sea, the silences full of secret things between my boat and me, like the times I spent as a child listening to the forest talk." (from "The Long Way")

[Trebek1]

20,000 Leagues under the sea... I still want me submarine!!!

[Islandmike]

It was back in 60s, it was either Kon Tiki or Chapmans... cant remember which was first, however, there were many after that.

[BubbleHeadMd]

First book was The Lion's Paw

After that,

The Coral Island, Swiss Family Robinson, Moby Dick, The Old Man and the Sea...

[cal40john]

After I got interested in sailing and decided I wanted to rent a sailboat in Colorado Springs I bought a Learn how to sail book. The first story (not instructional/reference) I read after that was Alone Around the World by Naomi James.

Pre Sailing interest, probably Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Something I read with very little understanding, The Sea Wolf in german for my high school german class. It was much better in english. (Had a little to do with my (in)ability to read german.)

John

[windships]

The book that had the most impact to me was "A Flock of Ships" by Brian Callison.
But what really got me hooked was spending an afternoon on some old guys 70' schooner as a kid in the sixties. (At least it seemed to be 70') I will never forget how beautiful that boat was. It was called Moonglow. Now, I'm the old guy and still looking for that boat!

[edlithgow]

"Riddle of The Sands". I was reading a lot of terribly British stiff-upper-lip stuff at the time, (early teens), Rider Haggard, John Buchan (eg 39 Steps). Riddle is in the same vein, but the characterisation is more finely drawn.

I hadn't sailed at all at the time (and still havn't sailed much) but the sailing detail seemed entirely authentic, and got me interested. I re-read it a few years ago and it still holds up.

THINKS: The Dulcibella was a converted lifeboat. Must be a lot of surplus lifeboats in Bangladesh, but I guess we're more picky nowadays.

[boatman61]

FACTUAL......Bernard Motessier.... any man who can be weeks ahead in the 1st solo non-stop round the world and throw the race to continue round for the second time till he had to stop to resupply has the attitude of a sailor not a "Headliner"
Love of the sea and way of Life...
FICTIONAL.... Moby Dick....
Phil

[svkavenga]

Dove. Made me think I could do it too. 30,000 miles in my wake since.

[julie-anne]

Naomi James was my first read then Kay Cottee comes to mind, also Jeff Togill, Jessy Martin and Allan Lucas.I'm sure there will be a good read to come when Jessica Watson finishes her round the world.

[dcstrng]

Slocum’s… eventually read Kon-Tiki, but in my mind it never seemed like a boating book… Read Rudder whenever I could get a copy, and as a teenager drooled over Yachting, but Slocum’s was definitely the first…

[young 78]

100 magic miles
of the Great Barrier Reef, the Whitsunday Islands

[mintyspilot]

Patrick O'Brian's "Jack Aubrey" series

[r.furborough]

Swallow and Amazons, but the book that remains strong in my memory is Isle of Strangers by Ralph Hammond, it was titled Island of Peril in the USA. Ralph Hammond was the 'nom de plume' for Hammond Innes.

Innes wrote a lot about the sea, here is a link for those wanting more information Hammond Innes