Cruising At Last: Sailing the East Coast - Hardcover

Merrick, Elliott

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 158574767X ISBN 13: 9781585747672

Publisher: Lyons Pr, 2003

Synopsis

Elliott Merrick had always wanted to sail the East Coast, but he needed a boat. Not finding what he wanted, amateur cruiser Merrick built his own boat--a twenty-foot sailboat he put together on weekends, in anticipation of the cruise he'd been dreaming of for his entire life. Finally, after retiring, he and his wife set out on the water.
This splendid narrative recounts Merrick's exciting journey from novice to accomplished sailor, capturing the sheer delight of a good day's sail. He describes building his boat, learning how to anchor in new harbors, meeting characters of every sort along the way. Merrick recounts "the unutterable joy of our good days, when the bow wave sparkled white, and the sky was so blue you lost yourself in it."

About this title

From the Back Cover:

The pure, simple joy of sailing and cruising, the blessedness of leaning down along the wind via your wing-on-edge - that's what sparks Sunrise, a 20-foot keel sloop that the author and his wife built themselves and sailed from Georgia to Maine and back again, learning to be cruisers and having the time of their lives. This is no vast adventure clumsily told by a sailor trying to become a writer. On the contrary, Cruising at Last is a simple tale told with charm, wit, and humor by an accomplished writer learning to become a sailor.
From this gem of a book one can't help learning a great deal about East Coast cruising lore. Poking into scores of harbors, coping with harbor masters, fleeing from storms, making piloting mistakes and correcting them before it is too late - it's all here with an immediacy that sits you down in the cozy varnished cabin or puts you drooping dead tired over the tiller, where you mustn't fall asleep or it may cost you your life. What the tide books don't tell you - the importance of abandoned lighthouses, the menace of tugboats, the shortcomings of vectors and RDF, the message from crab and lobster pot buoys - is all woven into this engaging narrative.

About the Author:

ELLIOTT MERRICK wrote a number of books, including the New York Times bestseller Northern Nurse. He has also written articles for The New Yorker, Yachting, and Rudder, among others.

About this edition

• Publisher: Lyons Pr
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 158574767X
• ISBN 13: 9781585747672
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 250