Ocean Navigator - Ocean Navigator

28 Feb

Sun, Wind, & Water: The Essential Guide to the Energy Efficient Cruising Boat

Review by Peter StoopsGood Reads, Ocean Navigator

Sun, Wind, & Water: The Essential Guide to the Energy Efficient Cruising Boat by Bill Morris Seaworthy Publications 228 pages In all my miles as a cruising sailor, I’ve always been impressed by how well other cruisers could conserve things — money in particular. While my interest in dockside exchanges on savings generally perked up when liquor and wine were discussed, most other conservation-related topics got tedious fast. Discussions about energy conservation, however, were — and still are — different. Increasing one’s energy independence is exciting; it is the combination of self-sufficiency, project management, being able to use new gadgetry…

25 Jun

Hawaii by Sextant

Ocean NavigatorGood Reads, Ocean Navigator

Hawaii by Sextant: An In-depth Exercise in Celestial Navigation Using Real Sextant Sights and Logbook Entries By David Burch & Stephen Miller Starpath Publications, Seattle, Wash. 2014 Hawaii by Sextant is an exercise in ocean navigation by celestial navigation alone. It assumes that the reader has learned the basics of celestial navigation and is endeavoring to hone their skills using real voyage data including logbook entries, daily sight data, computed solutions, plotted work form solutions, and a comprehensive analysis of each problem. The book is complete with altitude correction tables, Polaris tables, interpolation tables for sun and moon rise, arc…

28 Feb

Hawaiki Rising

Ocean NavigatorGood Reads, Ocean Navigator

Hawaiki Rising By Sam Low Island Heritage Publishing, 2013 Hardcover, 343 pages It has been nearly 38 years since the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule’a first set sail from Hawaii without instruments or charts, using only the stars, wind, and waves for guidance. Hokule’a’s historic 35-day, 2,400-nm voyage to Tahiti became testimony to the ancient navigators’ skill and showed it was possible to sail upwind from the east, eventually settling in Polynesia. In his new book Hawaiki Rising, author, filmmaker and photographer Sam Low tells Hokule’a’s story and chronicles the voyaging canoe’s history as an icon of Hawaiian pride and culture.…

28 Feb

Rough Passage to London: A Sea Captain’s Tale

John SnyderGood Reads, Ocean Navigator

Rough Passage to London: A Sea Captain’s Tale By Robin Lloyd Sheridan House, 2013 Hardcover, 368 pages Author Robin Lloyd had no intention of writing a historical novel when he began researching his seafaring ancestor Capt. Elisha Ely Morgan. He had inherited a letter from Charles Dickens to the captain as well as several others from Dickens to the captain’s son and wanted to know more — more about Morgan, his connections, and more about this iconic age of Atlantic commerce. His new novel, Rough Passage to London, is the fruit of his labor and follows the young Morgan as…

17 Dec

The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World

Ocean NavigatorGood Reads, Ocean Navigator

The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World By Lincoln Paine Alfred A. Knopf, New York 2013 784 pages I first met Lincoln Paine when he was researching his book Down East: A Maritime History of Maine (2000). He sought me out hoping to gain some insight into Maine’s fisheries. I quickly recognized him as an avid researcher and historian. In The Sea And Civilization: A Maritime History of the World, Paine has taken on the monumental task of telling human history through the lens of maritime travel, revealing how all people and their cultures are in some…

02 Oct

The Billionaire and the Mechanic

Ocean NavigatorGood Reads, Ocean Navigator

The Billionaire and the Mechanic – How Larry Ellison and a Car Mechanic Teamed Up to Win Sailing’s Greatest Race, the America’s Cup By Julian Guthrie Grove Press, 2013 323 pages, hardcover In The Billionaire and the Mechanic, award-winning San Francisco Chronicle journalist Julian Guthrie shares the inside story of an unlikely partnership between Norbert Bajurin, a blue-collar auto radiator repairman and tech billionaire Larry Ellison. In 2000, Ellison decided that he would mount a challenge for the America’s Cup. The challenge can only be made by a club and not an individual, and although Ellison was a member of…

02 Oct

Suddenly Overboard – True Stories of Sailors in Fatal Trouble

John SnyderGood Reads, Ocean Navigator

Suddenly Overboard – True Stories of Sailors in Fatal Trouble By Tom Lochhaas McGraw-Hill/International Marine, 2013 185 pages, softcover Suddenly Overboard is a collection of true stories of real maritime casualties — drownings, capsized boats, groundings and more. Author and avid sailor Tom Lochhaas delivers them in a no-nonsense narrative style that quickly grabs your attention and gets you thinking: “that could have easily been me.” He presents the stories as lessons of just how quickly things can and do go wrong afloat, and most importantly, why they go wrong. Most of these stories are not about dramatic losses brought…

10 Sep

Deer Isle’s Undefeated America’s Cup Crews

John SnyderGood Reads, Ocean Navigator

Deer Isle’s Undefeated America’s Cup Crews – Humble Heroes from a Downeast Island By Mark J. Gabrielson The History Press, 2013 176 pages, paperback The history of the America’s Cup is rich and fills many a library shelf. Most of the books on this great sporting challenge have been focused on decades of club rivalry, wealthy owners, quirky captains, the yachts, and their designers. Little attention has been given to the scores of men who crewed the boats. Thanks to Mark J. Gabrielson’s new book, now at least a few of those talented sailors are being given the recognition they…

26 Jun

Wilderness and Rescue Medicine

Ocean NavigatorGood Reads, Ocean Navigator

Wilderness and Rescue Medicine By Jeffrey E. Isaac, PA-C and David E. Johnson, MD Sixth edition Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2013 226 pages, softcover Jeff Isaac and David Johnson’s book continues to be the last word on wilderness and rescue medicine. Now in it’s sixth printing, this comprehensive guide to specialized first-responder care has been updated to include current treatment protocols. The text is well illustrated with photographs, drawings and tables and is extremely easy to navigate. Chapter reviews and call out boxes highlight critical material that could provide life-saving information in a crisis. Anyone who ventures far afield on…

24 Apr

All Standing: The Remarkable Story of the Jeanie Johnston, The Legendary Irish Famine Ship

Ocean NavigatorGood Reads, Ocean Navigator

All Standing: The Remarkable Story of the Jeanie Johnston, The Legendary Irish Famine Ship By Kathryn Miles Simon & Schuster, 2013 256 pages, hardcover All Standing is a historical treatise on the woeful 19th century tide of Irish immigrants who sailed to North America aboard notoriously overcrowded “coffin ships.” The meticulously researched book details the complex issues contributing to one of history’s darkest hours. The overwhelming odds of survival against a rising tide of famine and disease are vividly woven through the narrative. One ship among the fleeing hordes was unique: she never lost a life. Passengers aboard Jeanie Johnston exchanged…