If you want to know how our family became sailors, you need to know what we read. And we do read. My earliest memories are of adventure books – stories of people who climbed mountains, sailed the oceans of the world, or raced cars over the dangerous, narrow roads of Europe. When Whitney and Alison were very young, we read the Swallows and Amazons books together. It was of no matter to us that the settings were quaint and anachronistic – the stories of young girls and boys out adventuring on their own captivated us. We built a Swallows and Amazons camp in our basement and read more of the stories there, the girls imagining themselves as part of Arthur Ransome’s story. Those are some of the happiest memories of their childhood.
Sailors love our sport in part because of the many characters with whom we sail and who take up and make up the space around us at our marinas, clubs, race courses and cruising grounds. Take a little time to read about the characters who have defined the edges of our sport, have made some sort of crazy history, or have taken risks offshore that most sailors would rather read about. This a list of twenty-six of my favorite books that play out on the water.
I firmly believe that most great stories are love stories of some kind. Each of these is a love story…of the sea, of competition, of others, of the devotion to the unwritten laws of the sea, of the heart, of duty, or of the question humans have asked endlessly since they first pushed off for an unseen shore…can I do this?
In no particular order:
TAKING ON THE WORLD by Ellen Macarthur (true adventure) Ellen’s account of her amazing performance in the Vendée Globe, in which she shocked the sailing world by finishing second in the toughest, longest solo race on the planet at the age of 24.
DOVE by Robin Lee Graham (true adventure) The first book I read about sailing around the planet on one’s own. Graham makes it all seem possible.
GODFORSAKEN SEA by Derek Lundy (true adventure) A riveting and eloquent account of the 1996/97 Vendée Globe Race. This edition of the race had been relatively easy until a storm swept the fleet as it attempted to exit the Pacific with consequences both tragic and uplifting.
CLOSE TO THE WIND by Pete Goss (true adventure) This account of Goss’ participation in the 1996/97 Vendée Globe includes his bravery in the face of the sailor’s imperative to save a stricken competitor in impossible conditions. Goss’ selflessness was rewarded in unexpected and wonderful ways.
A VOYAGE FOR MADMEN by Peter Nichols (true adventure) The story of the Golden Globe Race, the first non-stop, solo race around the world – in a world of wooden boats without GPS, satellite telephones, grib files, plastic sails or fleece mid-layers. The sailors in this true account could never have been imagined by Central Casting…bold, tragic and flawed, they take part in an unforgettable story. (My sister gave me this book as I prepared to race solo around the world in the Around Alone Race. The title says everything you need to know about her opinion of that quest.)
RIDDLE OF THE SANDS by Erskine Childers (novel) Has everything – sailing, war, danger and great writing. (The author, a decorated British officer turned gun-runner, would later be executed for his part in the Irish revolution. A proper gentleman, he shook the hand of each of his executioners. His son would grow up to become the President of Ireland.)
THE STRANGE LAST VOYAGE OF DONALD CROWHURST by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall (true adventure) Written by two war correspondents about the fatal intersection of madness, obsession and the sea against the backdrop of the Golden Globe Race. One of the most captivating, odd and melancholy profiles of a man and the sea – ever. (The authors were both war correspondents. Tomalin was killed in the Golan Heights by a Syrian missile in 1973 while reporting on the Arab–Israeli War.)
THE LONG WAY by Bernard Moitessier (true adventure) The author, running away with victory in the Golden Globe Race, was depressed about the commercialization of the race and abandoned the race. He sailed on to Tahiti “to save (his) soul”, sailing one and a half laps of the world. This account of the race and his further adventures became the inspiration for an entire nation to get hooked on sailing as an existential quest.
TAKING THE HELM by Dawn Riley (true adventure) This is the account of Dawn stepping in as skipper after the Whitbread Race began on board the Volvo 60 Heineken and the challenges, both personal and physical, that this great race presented to everyone aboard.
TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST by Richard Henry Dana (true adventure) Dana was a Harvard undergrad who went to sea for his health, rounded Cape Horn and traded in what is now the state of California. His return trip around Cape Horn took place in the winter. Herman Melville said “His chapters describing Cape Horn must have been written with an icicle.” Superb.
MY OLD MAN AND THE SEA by David Hays and Daniel Hays (true adventure) A father and son sail a 25-foot boat from New England around Cape Horn by way of the Panama Canal. Told with immense joy by both men, this is a purely wonderful story.
SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS by Arthur Ransome (series of children/young adult books). This book and the entire series were a hit with my daughters and with me.
FASTNET FORCE TEN by John Rousmanierre (true adventure) The archetype of an account of an enormous tragedy told with passion and care by a sailor who experienced the race firsthand.
THE PROVING GROUND by G. Bruce Knecht (true adventure) The 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race delivered a storm of biblical proportions before we had the advanced forecasting we have now. Knecht focuses on three boats to tell the story of a terrifying race for survival.
FATAL STORM by Rob Mundle (true adventure) Another account of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race, in which seven boats were abandoned at sea and five sank. A wartime-style effort rescued fifty-seven sailors from their boats or from the sea. Six sailors died.
CAPTAIN’S COURAGEOUS by Rudyard Kipling – novel. The classic adventure of a wealthy child falling overboard and into the boat and the life of a fisherman, an accident that changed them both. The movie is also a classic.
GYPSY MOTH CIRCLES THE WORLD by Sir Francis Chichester – true adventure. Chichester’s account of his solo circumnavigation. Another book that planted a persistent seed in my mind about sailing around the world alone.
A WORLD OF MY OWN by Sir Robin Knox-Johnson (true adventure) The unforgettable memoir of a real first in sailing – the first person to win a solo, non-stop race around the world. It has been done many times since, but never with so few resources or such determination.
THE RISK IN BEING ALIVE by Brian Hancock (true adventure compilation) All of us have a path to the places we now live. Some of them are just more interesting than others. My good friend Brian tells his amazing story with grace and humor.
LONGITUDE by Dava Sobel (nautical history) In our modern world, it is nearly impossible to consider that sailors used to die because they could not tell time at sea and could therefore not determine where they were from east to west. This is the gripping, unexpected and wholly unusual story of the pursuit of telling time at sea.
AT THE MERCY OF THE SEA by John Kretschmer (true adventure) Three boats and a hurricane found themselves in the same patch of ocean with tragic results. Kretshmer, a hugely experienced offshore sailor and gifted writer, takes us on board to tell the story of these sailors and the storm that claimed them.
MAIDEN VOYAGE by Tania Aebi (true adventure) Aebi set out to sail around the world to leave behind some troubled teenage years and to prove to her father she could complete something. A journey of the soul as well as of the planet, she accomplished her goals and then some.
RED SKY IN MOURNING by Tami Oldham Ashcraft (true adventure) Like many classic adventures going back to first of campfire tales, this story begins with tragedy followed by unimaginable ordeal and finishes with the hope that is provided by simply surviving.
IN THE HEART OF THE SEA by Nathan Philbrick (history/true adventure) Why read Moby Dick when you can read the true story that inspired the novel that has tortured students for years? Beautifully told story of tragedy and good fortune.
HALSEY’S TYPHOON by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin (WWII history) Huge egos, uncertain weather forecasting, the imperatives of war, crushing loss of life and the gallantry of a few in a relatively unknown tragedy of naval warfare in the Pacific Theater.
WANDERER by Sterling Hayden (true adventure) Hayden was a sailor on purpose and an actor by accident. Headstrong and introspective, he gives us his account of leaving his career, leaving his marriage, taking his children and heading to sea, illegally.
There are many more. Please weigh in with your favorites – go the Kent Racing Facebook Page and let us know about a sailing book that has changed your life. This list is mostly about sailboat racing, but all of these are stories about the sea in some form. Several of the authors listed have published several books – only my favorite one from each is included.
When you buy books, please purchase them from your local bookstore. If you don’t know of one, go online and find one…you can order online from them if that’s what you want. Or go visit them…they are as passionate about reading as you are and can probably recommend other books that you will like. Not to mention the fact that your purchases might make the difference between keeping the lights on…and darkness. Amazon will survive COVID-19. Your local bookstore might not.