Product Description

This book is for all the people who yearn to escape society's web and follow their cruising dreams. It is written by a veteran voyager with generous contributions from his first mate, Anna. The author shows how to break free from shore and set your course for distant landfalls. He describes the adjustments necessary to live a cruising lifestyle. Anna discusses personal relationships and life aboard a small cruising boat. It runs the gamut-from finding the proper boat, to tying the proper knot, to cooking and provisioning, to check-in procedures and finances, to medicine and communications, to dinghies and heavy weather, to pirates and guns. Few texts are as user friendly or as well grounded in practical and essential cruising advice. A definitive guide for offshore and coastal cruising. Good for cruising powerboats too. 150 photos and graphics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1684959 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Review
"This is the most comprehensive primer on preparing for long-term cruising that I have seen. It is full of hard-won knowledge that is presented in bite-sized digestible chunks. The book will be a great resource for beginning cruisers, and a useful checklist and reference for the experienced." -- Nigel Calder - author of Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual.

"Walt Gleckler has achieved the impossible by bringing together in one manageable volume all one needs to know (and do!) to realize every armchair sailor's dream: to go cruising. In the half century since Eric Hiscock's Cruising Under Sail was published, scores of authors have written how-to books on cruising, but few have dealt with this vast subject so clearly and imaginatively as Walt Gleckler. An instant classic!" -- Jimmy Cornell - author of World Cruising Routes.

From the Author
All About Cruising lays out the steps to prepare for successful cruising-from the initial dream, through vessel selection and preparation, to the attainment of necessary boating skills. A large pool of essential information is common to all successful cruises and this information and the necessary crew skills must be acquired before departure. My hope is that this book will help you start or continue the process of voyage preparation that will lead you to the fulfillment of your cruising goals.

About the Author
For most of his life, Walt Gleckler has been drawn to the sea-first in dinghies, and then for years of competitive sailing in keel boats. At some point he started to dream of distant shores and began the transformation to cruising sailor. A sabbatical cruise to the South Pacific only wetted his appetite. He returned to his Southern California teaching position at Orange Coast College in the mid 1970's to find a growing interest within the boating community for training in marine subjects. Eventually, he developed a dozen different courses for boaters and cruisers. For more that 20 years he has coordinated the Sailing Adventure Series that brings well-known cruising personalities to the college stage. During those years, Walt with his wife Anna, led more than a score of flotilla, charterboat-cruises to international locations-from Turkey to Australia. Retirement finds him even more active in boating activities. Only recently the Glecklers returned from a five year cruise aboard their 37' sloop, Passage. And now here's-All About Cruising.

Customer Reviews

Addressed a lot of my questions and concerns
Very practical and written in an easy-to-read style. We've done local cruising, but I wasn't sure what I should be concerned about for our upcoming cruise to the Caribbean in '01 or '02. I now know what classes I personally need to attend, that my time at the gym is a good investment in my safety, I don't need to know how to tie every blasted knot known to mankind, windvanes are worth looking at, what goodies to put on my Christmas and birthday list(!),what to bring for sail repair, medicine, etc. Since I'm usually in charge of food for short cruises, Anna Gleckler's notes on preserving cheese, bread, juice and eggs without refrigeration AND making jerky and corning beef were, well, things my mother didn't teach me and I probably wouldn't have thought to ever ask her! I just feel more at ease and I anticipate that in the next year or so that I will be better prepared if I act on the advice in this book. I plan to re-read it every six months or so to make sure I'm working on those things (health, reading, education) to make our trip the best it can be.

Boy, this is pretty basic stuff
If you've just bought a boat and you have this notion to go off cruising, this may be a fun book to feed your mind. But it's awfully basic. Gleckler does take you by the hand and deals with the most fundamental questions. But there's no real "beef" in this volume. You'll need to read a lot more than you'll find in here. And the photographs are just AWFUL. Why is it acceptable to print photographs in a book that are so dark it's impossible to see what's going on?

Easy, fun read of a complex process.
All About Cruising is a fun and easy way to get answers to questions about cruising and the cruising lifestyle. The book systematically works through the myriad of topics applicable to getting offshore in the fastest and safest manner. It is crammed with information and the graphics, photos, and cartoons make it fun and relaxed. A great way to start a complex and consuming process!