# Best reading material to learn about boats, maintenance and sailing?



## lucy12 (Nov 9, 2018)

I am soon to graduate college and am in no position to buy a boat any time soon but I want to start learning now. I have no sail experience but I want to one day sail the world. Where should I start?


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## Don L (Aug 8, 2008)

At your shrinks office 



But really, I would and did start here and on Cruiser Forum. Then I got a couple of boats about sailing and cruising (think I got a total of 4 in total the past 10 years).

For sailing go down to the local marina and ask around for people looking for crew.

look into sail clubs etc in your area and got learn to sail


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## Hudsonian (Apr 3, 2008)

Read The Annapolis Book of Seamanship by John Rousmaniere. Talk with the Senior Fleet captain at a nearby yacht/sailing club about your ambition and your willingness to crew aboard a race boat. There are more sailboats than people available to crew them. You surely will be scapped up and if you're not a PIA have more sailing opportunities than you can handle. Ideally you will hook up with a one-design sailing program (i.e., a program where all the boats are identical), which will provide that fastest, surest path to proficiency. A la Zelig, being there will likely afford you opportunities to you will develop cruising skills also -think assisting with a delivery, for example.


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## Barquito (Dec 5, 2007)

Read a few books. However, at some point you will need to start figuring out an infinite number of small issues. The only way to discover what to even dig into, is to get on a boat and sail. In my case, I had access to boats at a school sailing club. The quality of instruction wasn't that great. So, I would go sailing and have a few WTF-happened-there moments sailing that I would research when I got home.


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

Most books on sailing, just like college textbooks, are really boring. Or all about the one and only correct way to do things according to the author.
I highly recommend Royce's Sailing Illustrated as a basic primer. It covers just about everything one needs to know to safely handle a small craft in a fun yet comprehensive format. From anchoring to boat nomenclature and even splicing, it's got most of what you'll need for getting started, yet is still a good reference book for the most experienced of us. No preachy tome here.
I have been using it to teach sailing for over 5 decades and my copy is literally a bunch of pages in numerical order, but I still love to pour through it. It is the best description of splicing braided line I've found, by the way.
Perhaps your college or a sailing club near you have classes you can afford, just to get you out on the water sooner. Sailing isn't something you want to put off 'till whenever, cause, I'll tell you from experience, it's a whole lot easier and more fun when you are young.


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## aa3jy (Jul 23, 2006)

Chapman's


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## Curtis Shipp (Oct 26, 2018)

Sailing Essentials by Steve Sleight


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## john walsh (Feb 22, 2014)

Lucy12 where are you from?


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## pdqaltair (Nov 14, 2008)

Books are great. Read them all.

After you get a few bucks sorted out, buy a sailing dinghy or beach cat; this is how you will learn the wind and the waves. You will learn it better than you will from the deck of a larger boat because the feel is more direct. Don't feel it somehow isn't "real sailing;" I think you will find this is how most pros learned their craft.

Sail Delmarva: The Merits of Learning to Sail on a Small Boat


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

lucy12 said:


> in no position to buy a boat any time soon


Sailing is only as expensive as you want it to be. I have quite a few reference books, but I can't imagine learning to sail from one. I would think sailing lessons or boat ownership would be the way to go, both might be nice if you can.

As an example, I currently own a pretty good collection of small boats including about 5 that could be considered sailboats. Only my primary family cruiser cost me more than $1000 US. The rest of the fleet; is a used 16ft beach cat $800 US that I pull on a trailer, a Walker Bay 8 sailing dinghy that I carry on the roof of my car which I traded for a leakyinflatable worth maybe $150US, a Puddle Duck Racer which my son and I built in the backyard worth about $150 US worth of hardware store materials and folds up in the back of my car, and my latest project a 65lb sailing kayak that I carry on the roof of my car which cost me US $600 from a kayak rental place.

If I was really short on budget, I would go with a car toppable boat to start because trailering comes with its own expenses, storage being the big one.

The Hobie Mirage line of sailing/pedal/paddle kayaks is a great place to start if you can find one used IMO.


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## capttb (Dec 13, 2003)

The book I recommend most is "The Complete Sailor by David Seidman" it's short, illustrated and actually enjoyable to read.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/673.The_Complete_Sailor


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