Book Review

Every issue of WindCheck includes a look at a new book about sailing (or perhaps the reissue of a maritime classic) and occasionally gives a listen to the music of the sea.

Book Review

Born to Build: Cape Dory…a standard of value

By Chris Szepessy

Born to Build: Cape Dory…a standard of value

By Andy Vavolotis and Jim Nelson Review by Dave Hemenway I have owned a 1966 Cape Dory 10 dinghy since the 1980s and have followed Cape Dory boats for many years. I also own a Greenwich 24, the precursor to the Cape Dory 25, one of Cape Dory’s most successful models. Cape Dory boats have always made sense to me and I have enjoyed sailing on several of their models. I joined the Cape Dory Sailboat Owner’s…

Book Review

Boatlife

By Chris Szepessy

Boatlife

Exploring the Freedom of Maritime Living By Katharina Charpian Published by gestalten 256 pages hardcover $75   Boatlife, written by travel journalist Katharina Charpian and beautifully produced by the international publishing house gestalten, is possibly the most visually stunning book we’ve ever reviewed on these pages. The burgeoning “boat life” movement, described by the author as “just like van life but at sea,” is finding new adherents thanks to the growing popularity of alternative living and flexible…

Book Review

Project Mayflower

By Chris Szepessy

Project Mayflower

Building and Sailing a 17th-Century Replica By Richard A. Stone Lyons Press, an imprint of Globe Pequot 267 pages $32.95 The restoration of Mayflower II, a replica of the ship that brought the Pilgrims to America in 1620 and launched a nation, by the shipwrights at Mystic Seaport Museum’s Henry B. DuPont Preservation Shipyard in Mystic, CT, has been documented on these pages, as was her historic relaunching in 2019. But there’s much more to the story….

Book Review

The Sail Racing Bible

By Joe Cooper

The Sail Racing Bible

The Complete Guide for Dinghy and Yacht Racers By Mason Stang and Udi Gal Adlard Coles, an imprint of Bloomsbury 304 pages Flexiback $35 Review by Joe Cooper The literature of sailing is well supplied with books intended to further the goals of the aspiring racing sailor, or even in some cases, the expert. Mainly they are by the usual suspects: Melges, Jobson, The Daves (Perry and Dellenbaugh), Elvstrom, and even Manfred Curry. The Sail Racing Bible…

Book Review

Barefoot, windswept, sun-kissed Sailing around the world on Obiwan

By Chris Szepessy

Barefoot, windswept, sun-kissed Sailing around the world on Obiwan

By Raffaella Marozzini A passionate sailor from a young age, Raffaella Marozzini is the founder of a boat vacation business. She soon met her husband, Giovanni Viviani, with whom she would fulfill her dream of a life under sail. After deciding to leave everything behind, Rafaella and Giovanni set out in 2015 on their Etap 39s Obiwan for an ongoing voyage around the world. In April 2021, Raffaella’s book about the first part of their journey, from…

Book Review

Cargo of Hope Voyages of the Humanitarian Ship Vega

By Chris Szepessy

Cargo of Hope Voyages of the Humanitarian Ship Vega

By Shane Granger Lyons Press, an imprint of Globe Pequot In December 2004, Shane Granger and his partner Meggi Macoun had just completed a passage from South Africa to Malaysia. Not long after making landfall and docking their historic vessel Vega, the Boxing Day tsunami changed their lives forever. In a matter of hours, unstoppable waves – many over ten meters high – demolished cities in Malaysia and as far away as Sri Lanka, Thailand, and East…

Book Review

Left for Dead

By Chris Szepessy

Left for Dead

Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World By Eric Jay Dolin Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company With a publication date of May 7, Eric Jay Dolin’s latest book is an entertaining true story of survival and betrayal during the War of 1812. A chance encounter between an American sealing vessel, a shipwrecked British brig and a British warship foments a series of misunderstandings and mistrust leading to the abandonment…

Book Review

Sailing By Starlight

By Chris Szepessy

Sailing By Starlight

By Rod Scher Published by Sheridan House, an imprint of Globe Pequot Press 312 pages hardback $29.95 Think “retired geography professor” and you might picture someone quiet pursuits in a comfortable, book-lined study, mentoring former students or perhaps presenting an occasional lecture. Marvin Creamer, however, was not the retiring type. At sixty-six years of age, Creamer was determined to do something that had not been done for a thousand years – if indeed anyone had ever done…

Book Review

Inside the Nautical Mind’s Eye

By Chris Szepessy

Inside the Nautical Mind’s Eye

Mental Skills Applications for Improved Sailing Performance By Karen Jewell Seaworthy Publications   80 pages   $25 Being physically fit is essential for success in sailboat racing (just ask Anna), but mentally prepared is an equally important component of peak performance on the water. Karen Jewell, a certified fitness trainer and mental skills coach, shares her expertise to help you successfully navigate those times when your head gets in the way of your body, negotiate emotional ups and downs,…

Book Review

Book Review: Coming Again

By Chris Szepessy

Book Review: Coming Again

A Novel by Roger Vaughan Published by Choptank Word Bank   210 pages The thrilling sequel to Coming About, Roger Vaughan’s latest book Coming About finds the protagonist, wealthy wastrel Andy Moss, on another careening ride, this time aboard the yacht All American in “The Race,” a ‘round the world sprint not unlike the one that made a stopover in Newport last month. The author shares this passage from the Southern Ocean: The crew had seen a couple…

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