Of Yachts & Men

Rating:
Summary: Biography, Building, Designing and Cruising
Review: I have my sailing related book separated by category: 1 Building 2 Designing 3 Cruising & 4 Narrative
This book covers all 4 of these categories but I keep it between Building and Designing because that is where I find it most useful as a reference.

Many (maybe most?) of the chapters are from already published magazine articles, many from the 20's & 30's (think of the good days of the Rudder Magazine) back when yachts were what designers & experienced cruisers/sailors made them to be, whereas today they are largely influenced by advertising and the naive perceptions of the consumer.

I learned much from this book and have referenced pages about rig, choice of wood for construction, hull balance...

One of the chapters is about "Eric," a boat Atkin built and designed which was based on a Colin Archer design. "Eric" later won the first non-stop circumnavigation when Robin Knox-Johnston became famous. The design later evolved into the well known Westsail 32.