Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: A Biography of a Sporting Icon (HB) by Rob Mundle

$49.99 AUD

Category: Sailing & Boats | Reading Level: 6 Sport

The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is the story of one of the world's greatest sporting challenges. In its 75th year, the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has become an icon of Australia's summer sport, ranking in public interest with such national events as the Melbourne Cup, the Australian Open tennis an d the Boxing Day cricket test. No regular annual yachting event in the world attracts such huge media coverage as does the start on Sydney Harbour. The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: A biography of a sporting icon is the story of one of the world's greatest sporting challenges, an event where men and women from all walks of life are inspired and challenged by the beauty and power of nature. The 628-nautical mile course is often described as the most gruelling long ocean race in the world, a challenge to everyone who takes part. A team effort as much as a personal challenge where one mistake can lead to defeat, while success can deliver national and international acclaim. Bestselling author Rob Mundle has competed in the race on three occasions and reported on it for both newspapers and television for more than fifty years. The pinnacle of his many writing achievements is the international bestselling book Fatal Storm, the powerful story of the tragic 1998 Sydney Hobart race. ...Show more

Classic Sailing Yachts: Cars That Made History from the Early Days to the 21st Century by Jill Bobrow

$75.00 AUD

Category: Sailing & Boats

A well-built sailing vessel is a thing to behold, regarded for centuries - by both sailor and landlubber alike - as a sight so magnificent as to rival the light of the moon or the form of a beautiful woman. This book is a celebration of that beauty, beginning with a definition of exactly what a classic yacht is and explanations of the roles played by factors such as design, materials, vintage, size, and builder. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific boat, providing an indepth discussion of her provenance, construction, and sailing characteristics, with contextual framework given by comparisons to similar ships. Readers will discover how different countries - and different builders within them - developed their own unique solutions to common challenges to seaworthiness, speed, and maneuverability. Illustrated with photographs of the most gorgeous news-making vessels of the past century, the book features a lively text that conveys a real insider's knowledge of the fleet, with information about each yacht's construction, changes in ownership, America's Cup performances, and the rivalries and colourful personalities involved. ...Show more

The Complete Sailing Manual by Steve Sleight

$49.99 AUD

Category: Sailing & Boats

The ultimate illustrated guide for sailors is now fully revised and updated. With a foreword by Olympic gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie, and covering the latest developments in sailing and navigation technology, this manual is the undisputed market leader in sailing guides. The Complete Sailing Manual n ow offers even more extensive coverage of sailing practice, including foiling catamarans, apparent wind sailing, long-distance cruising, and electronic navigation. Former British national champion Steve Sleight offers a complete tuition course on seamanship, and his expert advice is brought to life with breathtaking action photography. Packed with essential information, handy diagrams, and step-by-step artwork, this is only sailing handbook you need when out on the waves. Previous Edition ISBN 9781405392761 ...Show more

The Tactics of Small Boat Racing by WALKER, STUART H.

$33.00 AUD

Category: Sailing & Boats

The Art and Science of Sails by Tom Whidden

$59.99 AUD

Category: Sailing & Boats

This is not your parents' Art and Science of Sails, written by Tom Whidden and Michael Levitt and published in 1990 by St. Martin's Press. The first edition sold more than 20,000 copies. The Second Revised Edition 2016 is published by North Sails Group, LLC and written by the same duo. What a difference 25 years makes! Today there are one-piece sails made over a 3D mold in the shape they will assume in the wind. Sail plans have radically evolved to fractional rigs, fat-head mains, and non-overlapping jibs. That is true for racing boats as well as cruising. Thus, ninety percent of the text is new, as are almost all of the more than 100 photographs and technical illustrations. The authors focus on circulation as they did in the first edition, but now come at it from a different direction. And for the first time anywhere, they attempt to quantify its effects. Where the wind speeds up and why as it passes over a sail plan, and where it slows down and why. Circulation theory is familiar to aerodynamicists for at least 100 years and is argued about by sailors at least since 1973, when the late Arvel Gentry loosed his theories on the sailing world. Gentry was an aerodynamicist at Boeing by day and a sailor on the weekends. And the theories used to explain why airplanes fly were at odds with the theories of why sailboats sail to weather and what the slot actually does. Whidden and Levitt utilize explanations like circulation to answer such diverse questions as: * Why fractional rigs, fat-head mains, and non-overlapping jibs have come to predominate. * Why and how leech twist can be a sail-trimmer's best friend. * Why a yacht designer positions the mast, keel, and rudder to create some weather helm. * Why the safe-leeward position is advantageous relative to the entire fleet, not just to the boat you tacked beneath and forward of. * Why a mainsail's efficiency is improved with added upper roach, beyond the value of the extra area. * Why the miracle of upwind sailing is not that there is so much lift but so little drag. * Why, when sailing upwind, the main is always trimmed to a tighter angle than the jib. * What a polar diagram tells us or why tacking downwind is almost always faster than sailing directly to a mark. There is also an in-depth look at the wonders of material utilization-not just materials. Indeed there have been no new fibers accepted into sailmaking for over 20 years. It is how they are used that makes the difference. In the last three chapters, the authors drill down on mainsails, headsails, and downwind asymmetric or symmetric spinnakers. And in this edition for the first time they address downwind aerodynamics. The book celebrates the complexity and beauty of sails and of the whole rarefied sport of sailing. ...Show more

Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum; Geoffrey Wolff

$45.00 AUD

Category: Sailing & Boats

The first illustrated edition of the classic sailing memoir by Joshua Slocum, the first man to circumnavigate the globe alone Sailing Alone Around the World is Joshua Slocum's memoir about sailing alone around the world aboard his sloop, Spray. The book was an immediate success when it was first publi shed in 1900 and was highly influential in inspiring later travelers to do the same. Slocum was a highly experienced navigator and ship owner. He rebuilt and refitted the derelict sloop Spray in a seaside pasture in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Between April 24, 1895, and June 27, 1898, Slocum, aboard Spray, crossed the Atlantic twice (to Gibraltar and back to South America), negotiated the Strait of Magellan, and crossed the Pacific. He also visited Australia and South Africa before crossing the Atlantic (for the third time) to return to Massachusetts after a journey of 46,000 miles. Filled with art, photographs, maps, artifacts, and period illustrations, this new edition will be popular with armchair travelers and maritime enthusiasts around the world. Included in this edition are excerpts from those who, inspired by Slocum, also circumnavigated the globe, as well as other well-known sailors, sailing enthusiasts, and sailing writers such as Henry Dana, Geoffrey Wolff, William F. Buckley, and Nathaniel Philbrick. ...Show more

Fifty Places to Sail Before You Die by Chris Santella

$29.99 AUD

Category: Sailing & Boats | Series: Fifty Places Ser.

Mankind has plied the waves of the ocean since the dawn of recorded time, seeking sustenance, riches and adventure. "Fifty Places To Sail Before You Die" maps out some of the world's great sailing venues, as shared by both champion racers and celebrated adventurers. Venues range from clubby New England ports like Newport to the hair-raising passage around Cape Horn to idyllic island retreats like Mopelia. In addition to colourful descriptions of the sailing spots and anecdotes from some of the world's greatest sailors, "Fifty Places To Sail Before You Die" will include brilliant photographs and enough information to help would-be sailors chart their own adventure in these areas. ...Show more

Hell on High Seas by Rob Mundle

$24.99 AUD

Category: Sailing & Boats

'Hell on High Seas' chronicles some of the most remarkable stories of survival and daring that the world's oceans have hosted over the past half century. Bizarre, unbelievable accounts of people who went missing and were given up for dead, only to miraculously reappear, apparition-like, months later. ...Show more

Fatal Storm by Rob Mundle

$24.99 AUD

Category: Sailing & Boats

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'Whatever else Rob Mundle may write, this is likely to be his master work' Mike Power, The Mercury 'ROB MUNDLE IS A MASTER OF THE MARITIME NARRATIVE' Sunday Age Just before 1pm Boxing Day 1998, many thousands of Australians gathered - on and around Sydney Harbour, or in fron t of their televisions - to watch the start of an annual summer sporting tradition: the 628 nautical mile Sydney to Hobart yacht race. It was the 54th staging of one of the world's three classic offshore races, and the harbour was laden with excitement and colour as the 115 competing yachts jostled their way towards the start line while the countdown was in its final seconds. The moment the cannon boomed its signal, the fleet began the short dash towards the heads, before turning south and onto the waters of the Tasman Sea. It was an adrenaline-charged time for all competitors, but little did they know an unpredicted major storm cell was developing offshore and lying directly in their path. The fleet and the storm were destined to intersect. In little more than 24 hours, the majority of yachts were being hammered by hurricane-force winds and gigantic swells, some the height of 10 storey buildings. The Sydney to Hobart had become a race for survival. What ensued was the largest peacetime search and rescue mission Australia has ever known. Six sailors perished, five yachts sank, 55 sailors were winched to safety. Only 44 yachts reached the finish. ...Show more

Ragamuffin Man by David Salter

$49.99 AUD

Category: Sailing & Boats

In 1938 a knockabout 11-year-old kid from Marrickville, Sydney, is suddenly confronted by mortality. His mother dies. His father has little time for him and at 14 he leaves school to learn a trade. In 2016 that same boy is a multi-millionaire. He owns - and runs - the Australian Development Corporation , Sydney City Marine, a host of associated companies and countless office and housing blocks. He is also one of the world's most successful sailors, having won Sydney-Hobart races in his Ragamuffin yachts and competed eight times for Australia in the Admiral's Cup. He jointly holds the record for the most America's Cup campaigns - all self-funded and managed personally. He is Syd Fischer, the Ragamuffin man, and he's known as perhaps the toughest and most uncompromising Australian businessman and sportsman of the past half century. This is the story of Fischer's remarkable life, and of his unrelenting quest to win the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race one more time. 'It's as if Syd has suddenly decided that it's time to shrug off his lifelong reluctance to talk about himself and let us all now see what really makes him tick.' -Sir James Hardy ...Show more

Sail: A Tribute to the World's Greatest Races, Sailors and Their Boats by Timothy Jeffery

$49.99 AUD

Category: Sailing & Boats

Whether it is to test the high seas on around-the-world events in the glory of 49er yachts, to cut through choppy coastal waters on a Lazer racing for Olympic Gold or to set team against team in the great cup challenges, Sail is a celebration of the adventure and skill of one of mankind's oldest sports. Including chapters on the greatest races and their class divisions and the incredible and inspirational stories of the world's greatest sailors - from Ellen MacArthur to Seve Jarvin, Tony Bullimore to Vinny Lauwers - homage is paid to those who have mastered their boats and set out to conquer the seas. Sail also includes detailed technical analysis and intricate illustrations on each classification of racing boat, explained by the experts in their field, to give a complete account of the world of sailing competition. ...Show more

A History of Sailing in 100 Objects by Barry Pickthall

$39.99 AUD

Category: Sailing & Boats

Did you ever wonder which civilisation first took to water in small craft? Who worked out how to measure distance or plot a course at sea? Or why the humble lemon rose to such prominence in the diets of sailors?Taking one hundred objects that have been pivotal in the development of sailing and sailing b oats, the book provides a fascinating insight into the history of sailing. From the earliest small boats, through magnificent Viking warships, to the technology that powers some of the most sophisticated modern yachts, the book also covers key developments such as keeps and navigational aids such as the astrolabe, sextant and compass. Other more apparently esoteric objects from all around the world are also included, including the importance of citrus fruit in the prevention of scurvy, scrimshaw made from whalebone and the meaning of sailor's tattoos.Beautifully illustrated with lively and insightful text, it's a perfect gift for the real or armchair sailor, the book gives an alternative insight into how and why we sail the way we do today. ...Show more