On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 17:35:59 GMT, "Tony Van"
wrote:

Where you at?

If your in or around Long Island Sound, New York, Connecticut, or Jersey,
I would recommend "A Crusing Guide to The New England Coast" It's probably
out
of print but you may be able to get a copy on eBay.

But if you only want to carry just one book, it should be Chapman.

Chapman's fine, but I find Rousmaniere's "Annapolis Book of
Seamanship" better because new crew can read it and "get" it thanks to
the clear diagrams and whatnot.

Personally, I refer most often to "Heavy Weather Sailing" and Wally
Ross's "Sail Power", which despite being 30 years old, has taught me a
great deal about my boat.

For sheer reading pleasure, anything by Ferenc Mate "The Finely Fitted
Yacht" and "From a Bare Hull" and others. Mate sounds like a slightly
more pompous and erudite version of every old salt I've met,
equivalent to a double espresso of sarcasm mixed with solid boat tips
and techniques, as opposed to the local "coffee, black"

For literary tales of the sea, I like Conrad, O'Brien (of course), the
Smeatons, the Hiscocks and Monteisser and the recently dead David
Lewis (Ice Bird).

And for "music to sail by" (keeping well clear of other boats, of
course), I favour Wagner, Beethoven, Bartok, Orff, Debussy and
Mahler...but it's hard to beat "The Moldau" by Smetana...even though
it's a short orchestral piece about a river, it is entirely suitable
for a full hoist beam reach in 12-15 knots.

Try it: you'll agree. G

R.