Nigel Calder-s Cruising Handbook- A Compendium for Coastal and Offshore Sailors Description:

Nigel Calder's Cruising Handbook: A Compendium for Coastal and Offshore Sailors review:
5 stars (Great book) - Lot's of sailing info packed into one book. Covers many different aspects of sailing.
5 stars (Nigel Calder's Cruising Handbook) - Outstanding book on cruising. Written primarily for sailboats, the day-to-day cruising information provided applies to power boaters also. This is one book cruisers should have onboard for quick reference.



Nigle is one of today's best marine authors giving clear descriptions of the many boating tasks.


5 stars (A very complete reference) - The strength of this book is its readability. Calder writes very well, and he organizes this book in a way that makes it something one can read from cover to cover. Reading his work actually makes you want to be sailing.His treatment of yacht design is a fantastic walk through the desireable characteristics of yachts for cruising. If you are buying a boat, read this book before you finalize your decision. Calder acknowledges that every boat is a compromise, and he clearly favors traditional design over modern lines (he repeatedly expresses his distaste for wing keels, for example). The book then progresses through different sailing and cruising skills and issues. His discussion of anchoring is one of the best I have seen, and he does an admirable job of explaining marine weather. The one thing to keep in mind about this book is that it is rather "blue sky". He describes the ultimate cruising yacht (which looks remarkably like his own) and tends to overcook some of the concerns with "lesser" designs. Not everyone can afford to have a brand new Pacific Seacraft 40 built for them from scratch, but this is the boat Calder essentially lists as the perfect cruising yacht.