Despite the limited space and the virtually permanent digital availability of how-to articles, forum entries and various reference works, there are a few physical sailing books on Tiamat’s bookshelves. There are usually around 30-40 of them, and they can be roughly divided into three categories:
- Books permanently on board
- Books temporarily on board
- Books for pleasure
Essential handbooks – permanently on board
We keep the essential reference works and how-to books permanently on board. You really don’t want to go on a long-distance voyage without these books.
Nigel Calder – Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual
The standard work when it comes to both understanding and troubleshooting electrical and mechanical systems on boats. This is probably the only book you’ll find on every long-distance cruising yacht. Whilst the standards follow ABYC (American Boat & Yacht Council) and measurements are imperial, this doesn’t diminish the tremendous value of the book in any way. Contains many helpful tables, checklists, etc.
Nigel Calder – Cruising Handbook
Another extremely helpful book by Nigel Calder. This practical handbook assists with selecting a vessel and deciding on the necessary equipment on and below deck. It also covers topics you’ll need whilst long-distance sailing, such as manoeuvres under motor and sail, navigation, anchoring, weather forecasting, etc.
Beth A. Leonard – The Voyager’s Handbook
Another hefty tome that serves as a handbook. The first chapters should be read before purchasing a boat. They deal with selecting a boat that meets your specific requirements. In the following chapters, she coversâlike Calderâthe boat’s equipment. What makes this book particularly valuable for us are the chapters on essential liveaboard topics such as health, cooking, stowage and seamanship, as well as heavy weather sailing and passage planning.
Don Casey – Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual
This book covers almost the same territory as Nigel Calder’s manual. It includes chapters on sailboat inspection, cosmetic and structural repairs, sail repairs, electrical systems and diesel engine troubleshooting, as well as additional chapters on fibreglass, laminate and gelcoat repairs, and everything related to paint. The truly brilliant thing about this book is the illustrations, which clearly show you how something should be done or what it’s all about.
Michael Herrmann – Elektrik auf Yachten
What Nigel Calder is to the USA, Michael Herrmann is to Germany. With several books on electrical systems and technology on boats, he’s one of the real experts in the field. We have his ‘Elektrik auf Yachten’ [Electrics on Yachts] on board. The book fundamentally examines and addresses the various electrical systems. The standards here are logically DIN and VDE norms. Very thorough and in-depth with many coloured illustrations for better understanding.
Seemannschaft: Handbuch fĂŒr den Yachtsport
A classic that has now reached its 33rd edition. The book serves as a guide, reference work and textbook for the sport of sailing. Topics include the theory of sailing, manoeuvres from A to Z, behaviour during accidents and emergencies, racing, dinghy sailing, meteorology and tidal knowledge, licences, radio certificates and boat documents, maritime law for inland and sea, as well as organisations, institutions and environmental protection. You can also quickly look things up here: red-white-red with an extra masthead light? Am I the stand-on vessel or should I rather bear away?
Jens Kohfahl – Medizin auf See: Erste Hilfe, Diagnose, Behandlung
You hope you’ll never need it. But in an emergency, this book is invaluable. Not only does the book cover first-aid situations that can occur on board (seasickness, bruises, fractures, burns, etc.), it also explains diagnostic methods using key symptoms. There are also tips and information on setting up a ship’s medical kit tailored to the respective cruising area.
Jimmy Cornell – Segelrouten der Welt
This was one of the first books we bought. It describes in broad strokes the major and better-known worldwide sailing routes, with wind and current conditions, distance information and when the best time of year is to tackle them.
We haven’t actually needed it for our journey route so far. Our short sections aren’t covered in it. But we look through it now and then to dream our way around the world.
Karte 1/INT 1
A slim but very practical book for looking up various symbols and abbreviations on nautical charts. It contains all the symbols and abbreviations used in the international and national paper nautical charts of the Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH).
Not just pure sailing booksâmost are only temporarily on board with us
This category includes sailing guides and language learning books. Currently we count the PONS grammars for Swedish, Dutch and French, as well as one for Spanish. These will probably remain permanently on board and move up to category 1. đ
But our dictionaries and phrase books for Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, Norwegian and Dutch also belong here.
As cruising guides, we have the sailing guides from Imray (Norway, Baltic) on board. For Scotland, we bought the guides from the CCC (Clyde Cruising Club). You can find the specific regional and passage guides on our sailing tips pages for each country.
Books for pleasure
We don’t really buy physical books very often at the moment. We simply lack the space on the boat. But we happily use the mini libraries in harbours or towns where you can put in your own books and take out others. These are particularly widespread in Scandinavia.
We buy most books in this category as EPUBs for our e-book readers (Kobo and Pocketbook). We read quite a lot from various genres and subject areas: thrillers, crime fiction, fantasy, science fiction, but also plenty of non-fiction books, especially on history, politics and social issues. We also occasionally buy an audiobook from Audible.
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