November 18, 2003
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Cruising Books
from http://www.seatalebooks.com/womsail.shtml
The Cruising Woman's Advisor : How to Prepare for the Voyaging Life
by Diana B. JessieCruising books for men abound. For women, the choices have been woefully slim, limited to guides on cooling, sailing with kids, and being a good "first mate." Every woman who wants to cultivate her own enthusiasm for cruising-as well as the man who wants his partner to share his dream-should read this path-breaking book: its the first to thoughtfully, honestly address women's real concerns about the cruising life? Diana B. Jessie, who has sailed nearly 100,000 miles with her husband, draws on her own experiences to provide insightful advice to women contemplating short-term cruising or long-distance voyaging. In addition, the book includes extensive interviews with 2.2 prominent women cruisers-among them Patience Wales, in their unique perspectives on what women must know to be safe, happy, and satisfied while cruising.
A Bride's Passage : Susan Hathorn's Year Under Sail Susan Hathorn speaks for herself through her diary, but Ms. Petroski provides background and insightful comments that explain some of Susan's more obscure references. A honeymoon on the high seas aboard a merchant vessel may not sound like an idyllic, romantic escape. It particularly wasn't in 1855 when conditions made survival--much less comfort--a serious consideration. Yet this is exactly the journey Susan Hathorn embarked upon shortly after wedding Jode, the ship's captain. The journal of this adventure is the subject of Catherine Petroski's A Bride's Passage: Susan Hathorn's Year Under Sail, a lively experience filled with raging storms, tropical diseases, and a shortage of provisions. To further complicate matters, Hathorn became pregnant while on the voyage from Philadelphia, through the Caribbean, and on to England. Clearly Hathorn was a remarkable woman, and Petroski's fascination with her subject easily spills over onto these
Coming About : A Family Passage at Sea
by Susan Tyler HitchcockPaperback / Published 1998
"I had never lived on a sailboat. I had never sailed more than ten days straight. Would I like it? Could I do it? Was this journey a solution, or would it turn out to be just a new rendition of the same old problems? I breathed deeply, and I jumped in." Susan Hitchcock felt her family of four drifting apart. As she watched the daily demands of life tug her away from her husband and two young children, she knew they must find a way back to each other. So to reconnect as a family, they took to the sea. Sailing for nine months and 3,500 miles around the Caribbean aboard Hei Tiki, they meet formidable challenges from the volatile moods of Mother Nature and the mighty ocean to the cultural barriers on distant islands, and their own innermost fears. Though a novice sailor, Susan soon develops an affinity for the water, feeling her life pulse with the sensual rhythm of the tides. And through both the rigors and the serenity of sailing, her family discovers a newfound intimacy and joy in the adventure of a lifetime. An inspiring and triumphant chronicle of life at sea, Coming About is a wonderful meditation on marriage, family, and the fulfillment of dreams.
