CATAMARANS, Every Sailor’s Guide
by Gregor Tarjan
 

The title says it all.
You don’t have to be a catamaran sailor to enjoy this book.
Author Gregor Tarjan has done an incredibly great job in conceiving and putting together this “Technical Coffee Table Book.” Yes, I know that this description is an oxymoron, but it is true: the book has lots of solid technical information, decorated by some of the most beautiful catamaran photographs I have ever seen, by famed French photographer Gilles Martin-Raget.
This 300-page book has four major parts:
1. MULTIHULL CHARACTERISTICS: dealing with Multihull Advantages; Desirable Attributes; and Critical Issues.
2. MULTIHULL PARAMETERS: Design & Dynamics; Evaluation & Coefficients; Hull; Appendages; Rig; and Construction.
3. MULTIHULL SEAMANSHIP: Sail Handling, Monohull vs. Multihull; The Magic of Apparent Wind; Maneuvers Under Sail; Docking & Under Power; Anchoring; and Heavy Weather Tactics.
4. NOTEWORTHY MULTIHULLS: Twenty-one different boats, by all means only a fraction of the total in existence, are shown but not evaluated (that would take many volumes).
The book starts out with Acknowledgements, a Foreword, Introductions, History and a description of Present Environment; and ends with Appendix 1-5; a Bibliography & References; Glossary of Terms, and a very comprehensive Index.
Each Chapter starts with an incredible, two-page spread photograph. There are many full-page pictures of different boats, boat parts, accommodations, sails and rigs, as well as graphs and drawings to supplement the text that they illustrate. One of the many drawings shows the advantages of why multihulls benefit from tacking downwind instead of sailing the way monohulls do. Another illustration compares the different multihull hull shapes and the different wetted surfaces at the same displacement. Instead of spending pages and pages here to describe all the information in this book and still fall short of its value, we strongly suggest to put one on your coffee table (after you’ve read it), on your book shelf and, perhaps, also one in your boat’s library to show off to your visitors.
It is truly a wonderful catamaran book, long awaited (and overdue), that no sailor should be without.

#101 – CATAMARANS, Every Sailor’s Guide, by Gregor Tarjan, 300 pages, hardcover………$49.95

Cruising Catamaran Communiqué
By Charles E. Kanter AMS®

Cruising Catamaran Communiqué is the latest book from the pen of Charles E. Kanter AMS®. It begins where his record-setting Cruising in Catamarans leaves off. Adding new introspection to older vessels and adding an entire new horizon to the newer vessels, Kanter reflects upon the global reach of the industry and his survey experiences with the burgeoning green (hybrid power) revolution.
The last decade ushered in a paradigm shift in yacht design, consumer demand, and government regulation. Kanter addresses much of that as he describes his experiences with various new offerings on the market. His surveyor’s mallet and critical eye provide you with a most readable, articulate text, punctuated with a myriad of diagrams and photographs.
The book theme of “virtues and vices” clearly states all sides to controversy both real and contrived. Handling large catamarans is well covered as is his penchant for appropriate anchoring technique for modern light-displacement vessels and catamarans based upon his personal professional research as well as research from other sources. There is a huge bibliography and a glossary worthy of a book in its own right. Know before you go may be a common cliché, but Kanter explains how you can evaluate a boat, no matter how many hulls it has, for your own purposes.
Kanter, or “Chuck” as his friends address him, began his sailing life back in the 1960s on Chesapeake Bay. By 1970 his avocation and enthusiasm for sailing, and a career move to Long Island, New York, introduced him to multihull guru Bill Symons. He quickly became a part-time make-ready and delivery specialist for Symons. By 1980, Chuck left his executive “day job” as a Training Director to work full-time at his passion: sailing! He became a delivery skipper, charter operator, sailing instructor, race chairman and yacht surveyor. Chuck did professional equipment testing and numerous boat and book reviews. The 1990s saw him as a full professional with portfolio. He is a SAMS Accredited Marine Surveyor, member of The Society of Marine Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) member of BOAT/US Exchange for Marine Professionals, has a USCG-100-ton license with Sail endorsement.
Cruising Catamaran Communiqué was formally introduced to the sailing public at the Strictly Sail International Boat Show at Oakland, CA on April 18, 2007

#470 – Cruising Catamaran Communiqué, by Charles E. Kanter AMS®, 416 pgs, 8.5 x 11, Perfect bound...  $29.95
 

The Hell with Working, Let’s Go Sailing
By Richard Kiegler and Edward Kahn

Richard Kiegler dedicated this book to his late wife; it is mostly an autobiography and a collection of his poetry. Those who know him will enjoy reading it, those who never met him will want to do so.
The book is the true story of a fairytale lifestyle. He writes: “Being born in America is probably the best thing that can happen to a human being... Picture yourself clad in your favorite bathing suit relaxing on a sleek sailing yacht anchored in crystal clear waters off a white sandy beach...”
These are the words of a man who found his paradise and moved there. He met his “Million Dollar Baby” in a 5 & 10 cents store, married her and they lived 52 years happily ever after until she died.
“I cannot tell you the feeling of accomplishment you get when you live in a house that you built with your own two hands” – wrote Richard. “We love it here and plan to stay until retirement and old-age.” But, fate, as it is sometimes, changed all that when they happened to go on a 10-day-long windjammer cruise off the Maine coast and came back all starry-eyed about cruising on a sailboat.
“If you have told us we would be giving up all our possessions, including our house and vehicles and go sailing halfway around the world, I would have said you are all nuts!” Next thing they found themselves studying navigation and seamanship at a Power Squadron course before purchasing a 36-foot trimaran named Malo Folau (Samoan for Great Navigator). That trimaran was their home and transportation for the next seven-and-a-half years. Being landlubbers they learned the sailing jargon real quickly. Thus they found out that the:
“Anchor” is an odd-shaped piece of metal that is thrown overboard in celebration of reaching a harbor;
“Course” is used when calling for dinner reservation on the VHF radio and asking “what is the main course?”
“Freeboard” means living on someone else’s boat and not paying for food and drinks.
“Genoa” is a type of salami usually taken with copious amounts of beer.
“Oil skins” is the operation performed to enhance one’s suntan.
“Quarters” are money that you need a bag of to call home.
“Tender” what your skin feels like after it is exposed to the sun and the Caribbean sea.
“Upwind” is the place to be when the others haven’t been bathing.
“Variation” is a nautical term, usually referring to a chart and is the difference between where you think you are and where the others think you are.
“Yawl” is a southern expression, condensed for “you all.”
“Zenith” is a radio, that if the batteries in it were OK, it would give you the latest weather.


#471 The Hell With Working, Let’s Go Sailing, by Richard Kiegler, Paper Back.....$12.95, Hard Cover....$25.95