By Tom Cunliffe,
Adlard Coles, $35
One might learn the subtitle of Tom Cunliffe’s new Bosun’s Bag—A Treasury of Sensible Knowledge for the Conventional Boater—and make the hasty assumption that it is a area of interest guide of little use for the trendy sailor. And one could be far poorer for such an assumption.
As a result of whereas this guide imparts the hands-on abilities to sail and preserve a conventional crusing craft, it’s also crammed with historical past, wit, knowledge, seamanship, and the evocative paintings of Martyn Mackrill, honorary painter of the Royal Thames Yacht Membership and the Royal Yacht Squadron, and a lifelong sailor of conventional boats.
Studying this guide is like wandering by means of a chandlery or alongside a long-ago waterfront along with a salty previous ship’s bosun. “Such males had been guardians of the knowledge of ages; their instruments had been easy and their abilities weren’t book-learned, they stemmed from a life at sea that started as a baby, watching and studying all the best way. Nothing was past their ingenuity, and resourcefulness was their watchword.”
Visually, it evokes a extra elegant period of crusing, from the 19-meter cutter Mariquita barreling by means of a hissing ocean beneath a decreasing sky, to twilight’s cathedral silence when a sailor has simply lit the oil lamp at anchor. In all however a couple of cases, the artwork illustrates a particular level Cunliffe is making, whether or not to clarify what a watersail is and the way and why to rig it, how a tiller line helps handle steering, learn how to preserve or restore wood blocks, or learn how to field the compass. In his typical approachable type, Cunliffe manages to ship an absolute treasure trove of crusing and seamanship know-how—all with a vigorous humorousness enriching the storytelling that fills this guide.
As an example, discussing a luff yarder versus a jackyarder, he notes that with a jackyarder, “The alternatives for the membership to seize one thing it shouldn’t are limitless and might result in the last word answer of sending a boy of little consequence aloft to stroll the gaff and kind it out. For the cruiser, due to this fact, the jackyarder is greatest seen as a party-time sail. For the racer, the turbo-charged energy is to not be denied and the boys simply should stay with the knitting.”
With sections reminiscent of “Boomed Staysail—Pal or Foe?” and “Establishing the Deadeyes: The Glorious and the Ludicrous,” Cunliffe walks us by means of each factor of crusing and sustaining a conventional sailboat, even down to creating baggywrinkle, stopping deck leaks, utilizing sawdust to assist a freshly launched boat take up extra shortly, and contemplating the limitless deserves of “a aromatic lump of beeswax.”
Coupled with Mackrill’s beautiful paintings, that is merely a ravishing guide, crammed with tales of crusing, tidy bits of priceless data, and the enjoyment of a life at sea.
January/February 2025
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