Letters from the Med

Publisher: New Holland Publishers (NZ) Ltd

Publication Date: 2006

This is the sort of cruising many would aspire to, but few achieve, a large, nearly new and well found boat, and a couple with the competence and funds to use it for three seasons and 8,000 miles around the Med.  In addition, the diary based text, excellent relevant photographs and the skipper’s cruising notes give a wonderful feeling of being exactly the sort of book we should all like to write, if we had the ability to do so.   It is not a book about pure sailing, as one reviewer has already pointed out.  It is about sailing to a wide variety of interesting places and giving a feeling for each of them by notes that equate to a personalised miniature tourist guide.  Looking through the local recipes for each area gives one the feeling you would have to get into training to truly enjoy the glorious variety of food and wine available. It could also be seen as an excellent coffee table book for the photography alone, but this is to denigrate its true value, as a most interesting and valuable record of some wonderful cruising, and a great credit to the authors. - JL