Fixing Positions: Trailer Sailing in the West

CA Library Reference:
Author:
Item Type:
ISBN:
Publisher:
Publication Date:
No of Pages:
Edition:
Classification:
Status:
17283
Gjos, Matts. G.
Paperback
9781574092684
Sheridan House
2008
208
1
Q NA
On Review
Review Date: 
08/07/2010

Fixing PositionsPrice: $23.95

“Poetic” is hardly the first word that springs to mind when describing a handbook of trailer sailing in the Western United States of America, but then most practical guides do not contain phrases like this:“... spending all day under sail, in the steady rock and sway of the sea while listening to the constant, hypnotic swish of the waves moving past the hull. To us this was about as close as we might come to finding perfection in this world.”Passion like that surely strikes a chord in the heart of every sailor who has experienced even a single magical sunset at sea or just one glorious, captivating sail with a soldier’s breeze on the quarter in smooth, glistening waters under a blue sky. And that is both the essence and the contradiction of this little book. On the first level, it is a practical guide to trailer sailing, ranging from gale tactics, through anchoring techniques to the choice of a tow vehicle. On the next level, it is a log by serious trailer sailors, who have done it all, exploring from the waters of British Columbia to those of Mexico, including rivers, lakes and mountains (yes, mountains!). On the third level, this is a passionate statement of commitment to a way of life a British reader might be more inclined to associate with offshore, even blue water, sailing. Yet the reader must struggle to remember this is the product of a couple trailer sailing a Balboa 26, with a lifting keel, albeit designed by Lyle Hess, the legend behind Lyn and Larry Pardey’s world-girdling engineless cutters, Serrafyn (24’ 3’’ LOA!) and Taleisin. Paul Fletcher-Tomenius


 

 

Buy Now
»