| No one is suggesting that a novice boating | | | | 1977 America's Cup crew and lends an enormous |
| enthusiast can learn everything there is to know | | | | amount of expertise to all the basics of learning |
| about boating by reading a book, but the fact is | | | | to sail. This book is a great assist for sailors who |
| that picking up a volume from an expert with | | | | want to qualify for ASA certification.There's |
| years of boating experience can potentially save | | | | probably not a sailing enthusiast alive who doesn't |
| newbies a lot of false starts and, potentially, some | | | | eventually want to own his or her own boat; the |
| dangerous situations.Boating 101: Essential Lessons | | | | book Your First Sailboat: How to Find and Sail the |
| for Boaters, by Roger Siminoff (International | | | | Right Boat for You, by Daniel Spurr (International |
| Marine / Ragged Mountain Press, 1999) covers | | | | Marine / Ragged Mountain Press, 2004), will set |
| basic knowledge needed for every kind of | | | | you on the right path. The book covers the |
| boating, recreational and otherwise. From boating | | | | various types of sailboats available, discusses the |
| etiquette on the water to using navigational | | | | differences between them and the ways they |
| charts, from docking to anchoring, and even | | | | handle, and gives the reader lots of information |
| warnings about adverse weather conditions, this | | | | designed to decide what sailboat design meets the |
| handy book answers a lot of questions that | | | | needs of the individual sailing fan.While the books |
| beginners may not even have the background to | | | | mentioned above certainly don't take the place of |
| know they should ask. A great book for a | | | | actually getting out on the water and gaining |
| beginning boater, it also has wisdom to offer | | | | hands-on, practical experience, the information |
| those who've been boating for years.The book | | | | contained in them certainly takes some of the |
| Sailing Fundamentals, by Gary Jobson | | | | mystery out of the sailing experience and saves |
| (Touchstone, Revised Edition, 1998), is billed by | | | | the beginning boater a lot of time, and perhaps |
| the publisher as the "fastest, easiest, most | | | | even steers them away from some deadly |
| systematic way to learn basic sailing and basic | | | | errors.Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer |
| coastal cruising." Approved by the American Sailing | | | | living in southwestern New Hampshire; she has |
| Association (ASA) and The U.S. Coast Guard | | | | written numerous articles for the Internet and for |
| Auxiliary, this is the perfect book for beginning | | | | local and regional publications. |
| sailors. Author Dobson was part of the winning | | | | |