Book picks similar to
Encounters of a Wayward Sailor by Tristan Jones


ebooks-obtained-for-free
nautical
non-fiction
short-stories

STORM PASSAGE: Alone Around Cape Horn


Webb Chiles - 1977
    Alone at sea for 310 days on his 37-foot cutter EGREGIOUS, he covered 38,000 miles in five difficult passages. He became the first American to round Cape Horn alone, complete one of the longest solo passages of all time, and make the fastest solo circumnavigation ever in a monohull.He writes at the outset: 'I will know defeat, despair, fear, beauty, serenity and peace. I will be tested far beyond anything I have ever imagined.' And tested he was--by storms, three capsizes, hurricane force winds, cyclones, week-long calms, sleet, snow, frostbite. He endured to experience exhilaration and accomplishment in solitude , and the peace of being in supreme harmony with the sea-world around him."STORM PASSAGE is about the first of legendary writer/sailor Webb Chiles' now five circumnavigations, all made without sponsorship, shore teams, PR agents, or any means of calling for help. Many talk loosely about living on the edge. Webb Chiles has for decades.

The Capable Cruiser


Lin Pardey - 1995
    This book is the sequel to The Self Sufficient Sailor. This is indeed the global bible of cruising sailors.

Half Fast: (mis) Adventures in Slowly Sailing around (on) the World


Randy Baker - 2019
    With little money and even even less nautical experience they leave their small-town home in Arkansas to embark on an adventure they hope will last for a year or two but which evolves into a quarter-century voyage of discovery spanning half the world. Come along with Randy and Cheryl as they cruise their small boat to intriguing destinations that you won’t find in any tourist brochure. Along the way they discover the best and worst the sailing life has to offer as they visit twenty-nine countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America and the South Pacific. Their adventures and misadventures include encounters with hurricanes, thieves, drug smugglers and a disastrous tsunami as well as lasting new friendships formed with local people and fellow sailors all along their route. Cruising under sail is a lifestyle like no other and though there are sometimes hardships, those who take the plunge will be rewarded with a life of adventure and freedom that may be impossible to find any other way in the modern world.

A Race Too Far


Chris Eakin - 2009
    A Race Too Far is the story of how the race unfolded, and how it became a tragedy for many involved.Of the nine sailors who started the race, four realised the madness of the undertaking and pulled out within weeks. The remaining five each have their own remarkable story. Chay Blyth, fresh from rowing the Atlantic with John Ridgway, had no sailing experience but managed to sail round the Cape of Good Hope before retiring. Nigel Tetley sank whilst in the lead with 1,100 nautical miles to go, surviving but dying in tragic circumstances two years later. Donald Crowhurst began showing signs of mental illness and tried to fake a round the world voyage. His boat was discovered adrift in an apparent suicide, but his body was never found. Bernard Moitessier abandoned the race whilst in a strong position and carried on to Tahiti, where he settled and fathered a child by a local woman despite having a wife and family in Paris. Robin Knox-Johnston was the only one to complete the race.It has undoubtedly become the most legendary of modern stories of men pitting themselves against the sea. Forty years on, Chris Eakin recreates the drama of the epic race, talking to all those touched by the tragedies surrounding the Golden Globe: the survivors, the widows and the children of those who died. It is a book that both evokes the primary wonder of the adventure itself and reflects on what it has come to mean to both those involved and the rest of us in the forty years since.

A Drop in the Ocean


Jasna Tuta - 2018
    But this isn’t one of them. Totally free of hyperbole and exaggeration,  A Drop in the Ocean  is an honest and genuine account of what it is really like to cross a very big ocean, on a very small sailboat, for the very first time...When you raise the sails and head into the unknown, you take on the most fascinating challenge of your life. But you also embark upon a voyage of an entirely different nature. As the initial fear of the unknown slowly gives way to the daily rhythm of life at sea, something entirely unexpected happens. This book is one woman’s attempt to describe the nature and effect of this subtle transformation. Praise for A Drop in The Ocean A Drop in the Ocean is a book for anyone curious to read an honest account of how challenging, inspiring, and ultimately rewarding it can be to venture across the open water with only your vessel, experience, and wits to guide you. Along with describing the realities of exhaustion, seasickness, and bruises, Jasna also interweaves moments of magic and this why her book is so important. A Drop in the Ocean doesn’t romanticize an ocean crossing but shows both its difficulty and also its enchantment. These are the pleasures of ocean sailing that can only be experienced firsthand or read about in books like Jasna’s. The beauty of the ocean is not just found when the wind and waves are perfect and in the right direction, but in what the sea forces you to do when they are not. Jasna’s personal realizations and her final sense of achievement are a straightforward, honest, and accurate portrayal of a first time ocean voyage. There are still places in the world that many people will never visit, like the famed islands of the South Pacific and luckily there are also still people in the world adventurous enough to travel across an ocean by sailboat to experience them firsthand and share those stories with us.. Charlotte Kaufman, Author, sailor and founder of Women Who Sail.

How to Sail Around the World: Advice and Ideas for Voyaging Under Sail


Hal Roth - 2003
    Since then, he's logged more than 200,000 sea miles. Along the way, Roth also has authored eight voyaging classics, including the 1978 bestseller After 50,000 Miles.Taking that book as its starting point, this handsome new volume incorporates the new technologies and discoveries of the last quarter century along with another 150,000 miles of experience.A compendium of mature, time-tested sea wisdom from one of the world's most respected sailing writers, How to Sail Around the World will tell the reader:How to choose and equip a sailboat for long-distance cruising, with an emphasis on simplicity and a modest budgetHow to plan and conduct a voyage anywhere in the worldHow to master the arts of navigation, anchoring, and daily life aboard in exotic placesHow to cope with storms at sea--the most complete and authoritative treatise on this critical topic ever published

Blown Away


Herb Payson - 1980
    Their globe-spanning travels and side-splitting adventures are recounted in Blown Away, a sort of Swiss Family Robinson by way of the Marx Brothers.

Under the endless sky. A thousand days of sea, adventure, and freedom: around the world on a sailboat.


Carlo Auriemma - 1992
    A man and a woman leave a normal lifestyle of home and office, similar to that of millions of others, and set off to sail around the world on a sailboat. They uncover distant lands, forgotten archipelagos, emotions, fears, and incredible landing places. Large and small adventures, compellingly told in simple language that will captivate right up to the final page.

Alone Together: Sailing Solo to Hawaii and Beyond


Christian Williams - 2016
    

Alone Around the World


Naomi James - 1979
    

Quest and Crew


David Beaupre - 2014
    ‘Quest and Crew’ is the first book of a four book series. It begins twenty-four hours before a Category 5 hurricane devastates the south shore of Grenada. It’s a story about the many twists and turns that life can take. The sailboat Quest begins her new life with a full retrofit in North Carolina, followed by Quest’s launch in North Florida two years later. The job of becoming real sailors begins in North Palm Beach. On a clear starry night, we left South Florida on a hope enveloped by a dream. Finding ourselves only at the beginning of a new adventure, we set sail and anchored one island at a time through the Bahamas. The Caribbean is a few books away. Here is a glimpse into the powerful attraction of sailboats and sapphire water. ‘Quest and Crew’ is all about the joy of success as well as what it takes to overcome the occasional disaster. From beginning to end, the book is about transforming a rookie crew and beautiful old boat into a sailing adventure. Come for the hurricane, stay for the story.

Lost with Directions: Ambling Around America


Rob Erwin - 2016
     Aside from the bipolar hillbillies, unfriendly wild animals, run-ins with the law, a mental breakdown, a bad first date, and a near-death experience . . . things actually went pretty well. Taking plenty of detours along the way, Rob’s contagious and hilarious sense of wanderlust carries him on a whirlwind road trip from the Smoky Mountains in the East, to Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Colorado’s snow-covered peaks in the West. In a refreshing style that brings these incredible wild places to life like no travel guide ever could, on seemingly every page we’re reminded of the one universal truth of travel . . . the best parts of any journey are the adventures we least expect.

Cruise Ship Stories - 12 Years of Working on Cruise Ships, Behind the Crew Only Door, Getting Jobs on Ships, Life On Board


Guy Beach - 2013
    It could be you want to work on a cruise ships, you want to or have taken a cruise, maybe you are looking for tips on cruising or maybe you just like fun stories about cruise ships. If you are interested in any of those items I just listed, then this book is for you. Before we begin our journey, I guess I should tell you a little bit about myself and why I have written this book. For my cruise ship experience, I worked about 12 years on cruise ships around the world and 2 years working in shore side offices in Florida. I worked with 4 different cruise lines and worked as a scuba instructor/dive manager, shore excursion manager and then in the shore side offices as an IT geek, and finally a few years as an IT officer (yeah, I know, scuba instructor to computer geek, what can I say, it has been an interesting journey). Stories in this book include ones about: Getting a job on cruise ships Life on board ships On board romance Hurricanes Running aground Adrift at sea Kick backs Falling overboard Living on a tropical island Crazy things the crew and passengers do and much much more........................ I also have photos about my life at sea that can be seen at: www.cruiseshipstories.com Looking at these photos will bring my sea faring stories even more to life.

Breaking Seas: An overweight, middle-aged computer nerd buys his first boat, quits his job, and sails off to adventure


Glenn Damato - 2012
    Why do this? The goal, in his words, was “to become something I am not.”The “something” Damato chose to become was an ocean sailing skipper. Overweight and without boating experience of any kind, he decided to achieve his lifelong dream of sailing around the world on his own vessel.Reckless? Dangerous? Idiotic? Call it what you will, Damato was determined to make the voyage a reality despite the obstacles.Suddenly without the comforts and security of his previous life, Damato was forced to conquer his anxieties while at the same time surviving the hazards and challenges of offshore sailing. As his experience and confidence mounts, he discovers he has indeed undergone a personal transformation – one quite different than he originally hoped, and in some ways worthier than he imagined.Breaking Seas is a tale of ocean voyaging, but it’s not just about sailing: the all-encompassing themes are rejection and disappointment – and our common human quest to get the most out of life despite being born into an imperfect universe.Part sailing adventure, part philosophical pilgrimage, Breaking Seas is for everyone who’s ever wanted to embark on an enterprise of some kind despite not meeting society’s expected “qualifications.”“This is a story about our desire to be elsewhere, reborn and enhanced, because here and now are not enough. But don’t expect a sugar-coated fairy tale with just what you want to hear,” warns Damato. “I promise an honest story truthfully told.”

Leanings: The Best of Peter Egan from Cycle World


Peter Egan - 2002
    The range of motorcycle riding reports cover runs along the Mississippi River to New Orleans for a tin of chicory coffee or flying to Japan to test-ride new Yamahas. In Leanings, Egan's favorite feature articles and columns have been reprinted for the first time, including his trip cross-country on a British twin with his wife and a journey on the abandoned Route 66, plus many more stories about the open road.