When yacht designer George Buehler decided he no longer wanted to sit in a cockpit of a sailboat and steer with a stick, he created a line of cruising powerboats that many people could afford and sailors could still love. He called them Troller Yachts. Unlike those fuel guzzling seagoing bulldozers called Trawler Yachts, his new designs were based on the graceful salmon trollers of the Pacific Northwest, among the most fuel efficient, seaworthy, and beautiful powerboats ever built. This wa...

Everybody has the dream: Build a boat in the backyard and sail off to join the happy campers off Pogo Pogo, right? But how? Assuming you aren't independently wealthy, if you want a boat that's really you, you gotta build it yourself.Backyard boatbuilding has its problems. Building in fiberglass is itchy, smelly, and yields a product that yachting maven L. Francis Herreshoff once called "frozen snot." Ferrocement, once all the rage, has pretty much sunk from favor, if you catch the ...

Transform basic sailing skills into true masteryNo other sport is as complex or as gear- and technique-intensive as sailing. The details and nuances are vast, but beneath the surface are 22 elements, or core areas of knowledge. By understanding these principles you can attain true mastery: tie any knot, shape any sail, take the helm of any boat, no matter how large or unfamiliar.

At 35-years old, Kelly and Paul Watts sold their home and quit their jobs to sail around the world, without any sailing experience. Two days after purchasing their forty-two-foot sloop, they got caught in a forty-knot gale off the coast of Cape Fear, NC.  Their sails ripped; the engine overheated; the GPS broke; they suffered hypothermia and severe seasickness.  And yet they persevered on their journey, discovering the playful sea lions of the Galapagos, the seductive dance of t...

"An invaluable resource. [Vigor's] practical wisdom gives you the know-how and confidence to prepare your boat for the sea."--Cruising World. Here is the book that answer the sailor's fundamental question--"Can my boat take me offshore safely?"--then shows how to make it happen.

A CATACLYSMIC DISASTER STRIKES YOUR AREA. How will you evacuate your family to safety?Do you have a vehicle you can count on?Can it double as a mobile retreat, or do youhave a shelter prepared in advance?What's your plan for reaching the shelter?Bug Out Vehicles and Shelters gives you the vital answers and options for becoming a survivor instead of a refugee:VEHICLES• Prepping fast-escape vehicles• Using specially equipped vehicles for unique situations• Planning for backup vehicles if you...

From the acknowledged master of the “instant boat”—tips, techniques, and designs for quick-and-easy plywood boatbuildingDynamite Payson offers you a new guide to building 15 exciting boats from master designer Phil Bolger. Instant Boatbuilding with Dynamite Payson includes plans and instructions for a multipurpose skiff for sail, oar, and power; a pirogue for single or double paddle; a big pram dinghy; a maneuverable peapod; a long, fast, rowing dory; a ru...

A modern, authoritative anchoring guide for sailors and powerboatersA boat swinging safely at anchor can mark the relaxing conclusion to a great day of boating or the successful completion of an essential emergency measure, while failure to anchor properly can be frustrating, inconvenient, or downright dangerous. The Complete Anchoring Handbook is your path to mastering this indispensable seamanship skill.Based on original engineering analysis--and...

Get the latest boatbuilding tips from this updated classicSince its first publication in 1970, Boatbuilding Manual has become the standard reference in boatbuilding and boat design schools, in the offices of professional builders, and in the basement workshops of home builders. No other boatbuilding text has simultaneously served the disparate needs of professional and amateur audiences so successfully. Carl Cramer, the publisher of WoodenBoat and...

There is no dream so large that it can’t fit into a tiny boat… TINKERBELLE tells the real story about a man’s boyhood dream and how he made his dream come true. This is ROBERT MANRY’S inspiring tale of how he became enchanted with the notion of sailing the high seas, and how, years later, he set sail on a voyage that has fascinated sailors, adventurers, and dreamers, ever since. It is the gripping story of his 13½-foot sloop, Tinkerbelle—the smallest boat that had ever crossed the Atlantic...

Polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton never achieved any of the goals he originally set for himself. But when confronted with crushing adversity, he inspired his crew to work together to survive against incredible odds. While stranded on an ice floe 1,200 miles from civilization, Shackleton's discipline, fortitude, and heroism overcame months of hardship and peril to get all his men to safety. Here, in this short-form book, Harvard Business School professor Nancy F. Koehn writes that his is...

The most comprehensive and helpful guide ever written for selecting and equipping a cruising sailboatWhether you’re a coastal or offshore cruiser, you’ll find your most pressing concerns treated with the know-how that makes for skillful, confident cruising in Nigel Calder’s Cruising Handbook. The author -- one of the most respected marine how-to authors on either side of the Atlantic, and author of the universally admired Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual, -- walks you t...