Adventures on Xiphias

Celtic Gold by Peter Marshall

A real page turner written by an acute observer of people. The detail of the ports and capers of the author and his companions is a delight. Sufficient sailing details are included for anyone contemplating the voyage to pick up valuable tips but not flooded with sailing martian. It’s a good a read in its own right. Our hero sets out to discover himself having recently been divorced. On the way he learns that he was never really lost. It would be so easy to be put off the adventure and end up with a dose of harbor rot waiting for final repairs or that perfect gap in the weather, our author presses on and makes the best of it. Another author acutely observed that there are harbors for dreamers where middle-aged men, broken by redundancy or divorce, are unable to push them selves beyond the safe confines out into the open sea. Not so, Peter Marshall who demonstrates his continued capacity to embrace life, laugh and enjoy it. A thorougly good read.

Ice Bird by David Lewis

The classic tale of the first circumnavigation of the Antarctic continent by Dr. David Lewis in the early 1970s. You would have thought that having suffered one knock down, loosing his rig and suffering severe frost bite that the intrepid doctor would have had enough of risking life and limb. No, having endured a shocking test of endurance, that he candidly describes, with its fatalist depression and constant physical pain our hero decides that half way is not good enough and returns the following summer to continue the voyage. He suffers another knock down and, once again looses of rig. This time, more experienced, he sets up the jury rig and makes his way to Cape Town with sedate and evident pleasure. The final leg of the journey is completed by his son who repairs the yacht and sails her back to her home port of Sydney, again, single-handed. Astonishing, the story inspired me to install heating into my boat.

One Summer’s Grace by Libby Purves

grace

An inspirational read about a trip Libby and her family of husband and two small children, Nicholas 5 and Rose 3, took around the UK in the summer of 1988. It’s great to hear about the family travails and how they overcame the challenges of keeping a family united, sociable and amiable on board a small wooden boat tossed around stormy seas or moored against dripping harbour walls. This is not a pilot book or guide about cruising but there is fascinated local colour and characters interwoven with the domestic bliss and mayhem of  a long cruise away from home. The period electronics is mentioned with “bleeping of the Decca navigator reporting loss of position”, which stands in contrast to today’s GPS and chartplotter congested navigation table.  I wonder, if asked to do it all over again whether Libby and her husband would leap at the chance or decide this time hire an estate car.

Sailing around the UK and Ireland by Roger Oliver

This is a great guide to the would be cruiser. Lots of practical advice and details of the necessary plans needed to make the circumnavigation. Roger did the journey single handed twice, once going up the Irish Sea and second time up the west Irish coast. The style and content contrast with Libby’s book in that there is little by way of local stories or how Roger enjoyed the encounters with the natives. This is most telling when comparing Roger’s passage through the Hebrides which he did in a hurry, touching few harbours compared to the lingering, savouring progress Libby’s family took to complete the same passage.

RYA Electrics Handbook by Andrew Simpson

Part of the classic series of practical and consumable guides from the RYA. I skipped the first chapter since having obtained a degree in Electronics in 1982 I should know what the wiggley amps look like. The most instructive section for me was Chapter 4 which described the battery charging process and the need to balance batteries, alternator and crucially the regulator. Having accidently boiled the acid in one of my batteries in the past the use of the regulator is an improvement I will seriously consider. Looking after the batteries and keeping them charged will be a challenge but I hope to avoid the necessity of running the engine three hours a day! The remaining chapters were of moderate interest and merely completed existing knowledge. I will let you know how I get on choosing and fitting the regulator and upgrading the alternator.