Single Handed Sailing; Frank Mulville; Seafarer Books; 1990; 2nd Edition; ISBN 0 85036 410 8; CA 15447.

As I get older I need advice and support in my enterprises more often, not less. Ideally this comes from someone with huge experience of the sea; is given without fee or obligation; is available day and night, and along with sound and practical advice additionally delivers a lift to the spirit, reviving dampened enthusiasm. If it also fits in the shelf above the chart table and can be used to stand a coffee mug on… Such a book is the late Frank Mulville’s Single Handed Sailing.

Typically Mulville, the book tackles head-on the practical issues of single-handed sailing, the kind of ocean passage making for which he was famous. It is mostly highly relevant to us more mundane cruising sailors. There are richly informative chapters on Meeting Dangers (falling overboard, being run down, damage to the boat and personal accident); Basic Instruments (barograph, compass, log, sextant, chronometer, tape-recorder); Bad weather; Close Work & Anchoring; Choice of Rig; Trades and Twins; Food and Drink, and The Ultimate Disaster (serious leaking, mayday, liferafts, pirates/robbers). His solutions are always of the Mark I low-tech kind, and you might not agree with all he says. But very clearly this is written from, and validated by, immense personal experience.

Unlike some others, Mulville’s holistic approach, does not neglect the mariner’s mind and spirit. He has chapters on The Discipline of the Oceans (disciplined sleep, the sixth sense, importance of routine, no time for fear, the comparison of opposites) and Trials of the Man Alone (hypnosis of solitude, importance of trivialities, use of imagination, trial by calm, dreams and imaginings). These reveal articulate and fascinating insights into the world of the single-hander (both male and female), only glimpsed in others’ work on the subject.

To someone who, when solo, is relieved simply to get out of the marina and back unscathed and may never cross an ocean, this is one of my most-thumbed paperbacks. He always carries a sense of exploring the psychology of his addiction to boats and sailing. In addition to its valuable practicality Single Handed Sailing addresses the deeper issues too, which for me makes it unique and compelling reading.- RC

Page prepared 22 September 1999

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