It's essential to have a book aboard so you can while away the hours waiting for the high tide or the pub to open. It's also important to have the right reference book to hand when handling those important details such as selecting the right anchorage technique, or the right medical process to stitching your thumb back on. So putting the Almanac and ships log to one side what do you have on board?
I once sailed on a fantastic Bavaria 42 which had an entire shelf full of the works of William Shakespeare!? I didn't open not one of them. But what do I hold on my little boat to help with passing time and help with those little emergencies?
I have very little space for books on my boat, in fact sometimes there is very little space for me. So a book needs to earn its place in order to stay aboard. Here are my bunk / cockpit and pub stool mates.
Mine is first edition (there is an updated one) and was bought on a whim while in Bermuda, of all places, honestly I'm not that sort, way back in the 1990's. It's hard backed and I LOVE it because it has something on everything without boring me to death. From choosing a boat to the rules of the road and everything else in between it's in here. Invaluable, get one now.
The Skippers Pocket Book
I sail because I like to and I sail because I like to get away from things from time to time. So I DON'T always remember the details of every collision light as I'm not always intending to be sailing at night. So to help me along and joy the old grey cells I try and have this to hand in the companion way or even in my pocket. Another one you should have in your collection.
Hauraki Gulf (4th edition)
As we now live in New Zealand on the North Shore this is my intended cruising ground. So this book is a great companion on some of the cruising areas as well as giving insights into fishing ans some of the local fishes and wildlife we'll be bumping into. This tends to sit on the Nav table with the charts and is used as part of the trip planning.
To the Baltic with Bob
This is a great read and is much closer to real sailing than I get when reading Sir Robin Knotts Johnson accounts and the likes. This is story of day to day life mixed in with mad dashes to the boat and back just for the hell of it.
First Aid Pocket Book
If my Sailors Hand Book draws a blank on my medical issues then it's on to this. If it's got this far, to be honest my first aid kit will also be exhausted by then so its really a time to send a distress call and hope for the best.
Weather Pocket Book
This is again a a great little reference book to help with watching the weather and predicting whats coming up, or rather coming down.
So that's it. These are my live aboard books.
Other Books?
If I'm currently into the latest Lee Child's or what ever else takes my fancy, then this will make it aboard in my bag but will more than likely taken back home again. Besides, where would it fit in my jigsaw of a cabin?
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