THE ALTERNATIVE KNOT BOOK, Harry Asher, A book about new knots and splices that are appropriate for modern fibers and weaves of rope. ISBN: 0911378952. (bm).
ASHLEY'S BOOK OF KNOTS AND FANCY ROPEWORK, Ashley, The definitive book on the subject.
ANCHORING, Don Bamford, Anchoring is really a subtle and complex business which isn't given the attention it deserves by many people. While the chapter in Hiscock covers the basics quite well, this book does it in depth and detail.(mh).
SEXTANT HANDBOOK, Bruce Bauer, This is about the instrument itself and its care. Not really necessary, but nice to have.(mh).
VOYAGING UNDER POWER, Beebe, About design and building plus long range voyaging; excellent short chapter by his wife about provisioning and managing the galley.(tl).
THE PROPER YACHT, Arthur Beiser, Dated and out of print, but a good guide to some of the older designs which are found on the used market.(mh).
HIGH PERFORMANCE SAILING, Frank Bethwaite, ISBN 0 87742 419 4. International Marine is at PO Box 220, Camden, ME, 04843. Elsewhere in the world it uses ISBN 0 07 470 100 2, from McGraw Hill Australia Pty Ltd, 4 Barcoo Street, Roseville NSW 2069, Australia. The book is about 400 pages with four sections on the wind, water, boat development, and how to use what you have. I'm up to about page 250 now, and Frank treats all areas of the world, and when nothing but local knowledge will help you (he speaks of visiting bars on the waterfront to talk to freight ship captains rather than local sailors :-). Good stuff... (ab) From further discussion of this book on the net, it would appear to be the very best on the subject, supported by serious research data rather than conjecture. (jfh).
BOAT CANVAS FROM COVER TO COVER, Bob and Karen Lipe, A very basic discussion of canvas work with a series of practical projects from simple to complex.(mh).
100 SMALL BOAT RIGS, Philip C. Bolger, He's managed to take what could be a very boring topic and make it intensely lively.
TED BREWER EXPLAINS SAILBOAT DESIGN, Ted Brewer, Good introduction to the technical aspects and jargon of sailing yacht design. No math.(mh).
BACKYARD BOAT BUILDING, George Buehler, This is a no-nonsense(?) book on building stout seagoing boats. Most of it deals with wood construction. Buehler is a designer, builder, and cruiser who lives in the Pacific northwest, and his designs include power and sail cruisers and workboats. It includes plans for 8 boats, but it IS really about building in your backyard, in the tradition of Rable and Chappelle. 320 pg paperback, $24.95 IM 158380 (wv).
PRECISION CRUISING, Authur F. Chace, A series of cruising stories which pose various problems in seamanship and piloting, along with proposed solutions for those problems. (mh).
YACHT DESIGNING AND PLANNING, Howard Chapelle, WW Norton and Co. New York 1971. (I don't know if it's still in print). The book to turn to when you want lots of good useful, practical advice on yacht design. Not heavy on theory but has years of experience behind it.(mp).
HEAVY WEATHER SAILING, Adlard Coles.
HANDMADE HOUSEBOATS - INDEPENDENT LIVING AFLOAT, Russell Condor, Houseboats in the tradition of Whole Earth Catalog, so read with caution. Contains photos and drawings of some good, classic floating residences. 230 pg paperback, $19.95 IM 158022 (wv).
WORLD CRUISING ROUTES, Jimmy Cornell, A route planning guide for world cruising with regional weather patterns, currents, etc. Highly recommended.(mh).
THE YACHT NAVIGATOR'S HANDBOOK, Norman Dahl, A concise and very practical coverage of general navigation and piloting, the best overall reference on the subject I have found. The section on celestial is good enough to serve as a self-teaching course, although it probably isn't the best choice for that purpose. Highly recommended, but appears to be out of print. (mh).
YACHT NAVIGATOR'S HANDBOOK, Norman Dahl, A good intermediate book between Chapman and Bowditch.(mh).
SAFETY AT SEA, George Day, Covers everything from yacht design to abandon-ship in a broad and general way.(mh).
THE NATURE OF BOATS, Dave Gerr.
HOW THINGS FLOAT, E. N. Gilbert, American Mathematical Monthly, March 1991 (Vol. 98, No. 3), pp. 201-216.
SURVIVOR, Michael Greenwald, The part of it you don't want to think about but must. Mainly about liferaft survival, but also covers many other topics concerned with safety and emergencies including medical procedures. Highly recommended.(mh) ADVANCED FIRST AID AFLOAT by Peter F. Eastman, MD. Seems to be the best all around medical manual.(mh).
FIBERGLASS BOATBUILDING FOR AMATEURS, Ken Hankinson, You can get it from Glen-L Marine (look in the classifieds of just about any sailing magazine). It covers pretty much all aspects of glass boat building. More technical, covers different resins and reinforcements, vacuum bagging, high tech as well as low tech, gel coats, laminating, etc. (mp).
CHOICE YACHT DESIGNS, Richard Henderson, See comments on Beiser, The Proper Yacht.
SAILING IN WINDY WEATHER, Richard Henderson, A good book on sailing in a half gale, but not a gale or a hurricane. (jfh).
THE GOUGEON BROTHERS ON BOAT CONSTRUCTION, Gougeon Brothers Inc., Bay City, MI 1983. The best by far on cold molding. Lots of practical hints. Good safety (esp. WRT epoxy) and general/setup chapters. How to mix and use epoxy, how to engineer wood composite structures. (mp).
DESIRABLE AND UNDESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF OFFSHORE YACHTS, ed. John Rousmaniere, Technical, but required reading for anyone choosing an offshore boat. This is a series of reports which were inspired by the Fastnet race disaster of 1979 and sponsored by the Cruising Club of America.(mh).
THE SCIENCE OF YACTS WIND AND WATER, H. F. Kay, G. T. Foulis and Co Ltd 1971 Has most of the formulas you need, I guess.
CHAPMAN'S PILOTING, SEAMANSHIP, AND SMALL BOAT HANDLING, Elbert S. Maloney, The bible of basic boating. Tons of good information, with perhaps a bit too much emphasis on flag etiquette, but otherwise excellent. Kept up to date by Elbert S. Maloney. (jh).
DUTTON'S NAVIGATION AND PILOTING, Elbert S. Maloneyn, I believe this used to be published by the Navy and used as text at Annapolis. (wh).
AERO HYDRODYNAMICS OF SAILING, C. A. Marchaj, Adlard Coles Ltd. 1979 A complete update of the previous classic text.
SAILING THEORY AND PRACTICE, C. A. Marchaj, Adlard Coles Ltd. 1964 A scientific analysis of the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic and other design factors wich define the yachts behaviour.
SEAWORTHINESS: THE FORGOTTEN FACTOR, C. A. Marchaj, (International Marine Publishing Company of CAMDEN Maine), $34.95. This is the book on hull design. It is a nice melange of the artistic, political, academic, and technical, and Marchaj has a fine writing style. For boaters, all I can say is that most will find it very controversial. His precise and tightly argued passages on just why the modern racing yacht is neither seakindly nor seaworthy will have some, like myself, smugly nodding, and others, most racers, I guess, hopping mad.
THE WORLD'S BEST SAILBOATS, Ferenc Mate', Even if you can't afford the boats in this book, it will give you some ideas of what to look for. Coffee-table format, glorious photography. Try not to drool on it.(mh).
SURVEYING SMALL CRAFT, Ian Nicholson, How to evaluate a prospective purchase. Not a substitute for a professional survey, but very useful for preliminary work before making an offer.(mh).
AMERICAN PRACTICAL NAVIGATOR (BOWDITCH), The US Hydrographic Office, (2 volumes) More than you would ever dream of wanting to know about navigation. Most of it is oriented towards big ships, but everything there is, is in there somewhere. No one will take you seriously unless you have Bowditch aboard.(mh).
BUILD THE INSTANT BOATS, Hal Payson, Simple, often not-very-strong, boats.(jfh) Easy to build, and the ones with lots of curvature tend to be strong and stiff (paraphrased). (wv).
BUILD THE NEW INSTANT BOATS, Hal Payson, See notes on previous book.
FASTNET FORCE 10, John Rousmaniere, Fascinating, absolutely riveting book. It tells the story of the 79 Fastnet race from the perspective of the participants, by one of the participants. His story gives a different view than most of the general media reports, by somebody who was there.(mp).
THE ANNAPOLIS BOOK OF SEAMANSHIP, John Rousmaniere, Simon and Schuster, New York 1989. A complete and thorough guide to every aspect of sailboat handling by a leading expert in offshore sailing. Chapters include the boat and her environment, safety, navigation, and self-sufficiency.(mp).
THE CRUISING NAVIGATOR, Hewett Schlereth, (4 volumes) A full course in basic celestial navigation plus a complete reference work on the subject with perpetual almanacs and sight reduction tables. No other references are required. As a self-teaching course, it is not perfect but it is very good (I learned from it). As a working reference, its only weakness is that it does not include the moon and planets (perpetual almanacs aren't practical for these bodies). Printed on waterproof paper with heavy covers. This set cost $100 and is now out of print. A used copy is a major find. Volume ``00'', SIGHT REDUCTION TABLES FOR SMALL BOAT NAVIGATION is a find in itself. This is a much more convenient set of tables than any of the standard sets (it is a condensed version of HO 229). Highly recommended.(mh).
SKEENE'S ELEMENTS OF YACHT DESIGN., Norman Skene, An early classic. Also originally called "Elements of Yacht Design." Dodd, Mead and Co. First edition 1927, many later revisions and editions to the early 1950s. Out of print, first editions quite rare. A classic in the field.
OFFSHORE CRUISING ENCYCLOPEDIA, Steve and Linda Dashew, Not an encyclopedia, but a tremendous collection of well informed opinion on every subject imaginable. Oriented towards larger (sail) boats and cost-no-object cruising, but it has something for everybody. Whether it is worth the tremendous price (about $70) is another matter.(mh).
BOATBUILDING MANUAL, Robert Steward, The most concise book on wooden boat construction (including modern methods). Easy to read and understand. A standard reference.(mp).
KNOTS, Brion Toss, A nice little basic introduction to the important knots and their use by a good writer.(mh).
THE RIGGERS APPRENTICE, Brion Toss, The more sophisticated aspects of rope and lines.(mh).
BOATBUILDING ONE-OFFS IN FIBERGLASS, Alan Vaitses, (I think it's now out of print). This one has so much wisdom per page it's worth looking for. Really a hands-on book, Vaitses made a living building glass boats for a long time, so he's made all the mistakes and knows what works and what doesn't.(mp).
THE OCEAN SAILING YACHT, Donald Street (2 volumes), The first volume is dated but covers the basics well. The second volume covers most of the same subjects in a more complete manner and from a more modern perspective. The volumes complement one another.(mh).
THE ART AND SCIENCE OF SAILS, Tom Whidden, Not quite so technically inclined is ``Sail Power (The Complete Guide to Sails and Sail Handling)'' by Wallace Ross.