"Sailing Against the Wind" was written in 1980, though never published. It is an accounting of the three years the Larson family lived and traveled on a ketch rigged sailboat. The book is intended, not as an instruction manual on how to sail, but entirely as a diary of daily life and the difficulties found in close quarters while at sea. All five family members kept journals and when Toni sat down to write this, the journals gave a clear and accurate guide for her to work with. Over all the years since this manuscript was written, people have quizzed them, "What was it like? How did you do it? Was it hard? Were you scared?" The manuscript answers all those questions and has been shared with friends and family who were curious. The book does not cover the finer details of charting, trimming sails, repairing the engine, etc. Instead, it reveals how to live, survive, love and learn as a family while sailing against the wind. Now, in this era of downsizing into boats, rv's and tiny houses this diary of events may have relevance. The mid-1970s were the last years before the introduction of personal computers, the Internet, email, GPS, ATM, cell phones, and all forms of advanced electronics. Those things were not even available on the most luxurious boats at the time this adventure occurred. Navigation tools in the '70s were almost identical to that of explorers some 250 years before. However, if all those wonderful inventions had been available, it still would not have saved them from the many mishaps they encountered. And that is the lesson of this book.

Jaan Kross's historical novel Sailing Against the Wind fictionalizes the life of Bernhard Schmidt (1879–1935), an Estonian-born inventor. Schmidt lost an arm in his youth while experimenting with a homemade rocket, resulting in psychological trauma that would plague him for the rest of his life. Largely self-taught, Schmidt was driven to seek recognition of his talents. He moved to Germany in the 1930s, where, after perfecting techniques for polishing lenses, he began developing ideas for improving astronomical telescopes. He was arrested for selling one to the Russians, and although he got off with only a warning, he later suffered a breakdown and was sent to a mental hospital, where he soon died. Sailing Against the Wind becomes a meditation on national identity, the relationship between history and the individual life, and the mechanisms of the historical novel as a genre.

The story of an uncovered voyage as colorful and momentous as any on record for the Age of Discovery--and of the Black mariner whose stunning accomplishment has been until now lost to history It began with a secret mission, no expenses spared. Spain, plotting to break Portugal's monopoly trade with the fabled Orient, set sail from a hidden Mexican port to cross the Pacific--and then, critically, to attempt the never-before-accomplished return, the vuelta. Four ships set out from Navidad, each one carrying a dream team of navigators. The smallest ship, guided by seaman Lope Martín, a mulatto who had risen through the ranks to become one of the most qualified pilots of the era, soon pulled far ahead and became mysteriously lost from the fleet. It was the beginning of a voyage of epic scope, featuring mutiny, murderous encounters with Pacific islanders, astonishing physical hardships--and at last a triumphant return to the New World. But the pilot of the fleet's flagship, the Augustine friar mariner Andrés de Urdaneta, later caught up with Martín to achieve the vuelta as well. It was he who now basked in glory, while Lope Martín was secretly sentenced to be hanged by the Spanish crown as repayment for his services. Acclaimed historian Andrés Reséndez, through brilliant scholarship and riveting storytelling--including an astonishing outcome for the resilient Lope Martín--sets the record straight.

Man was a sailor long before he invented the wheel or straddled a horse, and his adventures at sea changed the course of history. Initially he was able to sail only downwind, but the Cretans and Phoenicians made design improvements to sails that permitted sailing across and eventually against the wind. The Vikings optimized the performance of the square sail, and the Dutch modified the Arab lateen to create the sail commonly used today. Leo Block tells the story of the evolution of sails and relates it to historic events and other factors that affected the performance of sailing vessels. Numerous illustrations help explain the technical factors involved. Focusing mainly on European improvements, Block details the progress of sail design from the lateen to the square, fore and aft, and classic rigs right up to the swift clipper ships of the nineteenth century just before the advent of steam power. Written in laymen's terms, the book is an excellent learning tool for readers who know little about the history of sailing vessels and a quick reference guide for sailors who want a reminder of how their craft evolved.

This ebook is designed as preparation for a practical sailing course or as an accompaniment to it. It is also excellent for people who are returning to sailing and want to freshen up their knowledge. For those who have just started it helps to understand how sailing works and is also suitable to introduce family members, partners and friends in this wonderful sport. All the important sailing manoeuvres are explained comprehensively and easy to understand. After reading this ebook you will visit your practical sailing course well prepared. There you can concentrate on the actually important matter, already knowing some of the theory: Sailing The ebook contains 144 coloured images showing the important sailing manoeuvres step by step. On additional 75 black and white images the nautical knots are explained. So before you buy the ebook please download a free sample and have a look if your ebook-reader shows all details on the images correctly.

Following The Highest Tide, Border Songs, and Truth Like the Sun, Jim Lynch now gives us a grand and idiosyncratic family saga that will stand alongside Ken Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion. Joshua Johannssen has spent all of his life surrounded by sailboats. His grandfather designed them, his father built and raced them, his Einstein-obsessed mother knows why and how they work (or not). For Josh and his two siblings, their backyard was the Puget Sound and sailing their DNA. But both his sister and brother fled many years ago: Ruby to Africa and elsewhere to do good works on land, and Bernard to god-knows-where at sea, a fugitive and pirate. Suddenly thirty-one, Josh—who repairs boats of all kinds in a Steinbeckian marina south of Seattle—is pained and confused by whatever the hell went wrong with his volatile family. His parents are barely speaking, his mystified grandfather is drinking harder, and he himself—despite an endless and comic flurry of online dates—hasn’t even come close to finding a girlfriend. But when the Johannssens unexpectedly reunite for the most important race in these waters—all of them together on a classic vessel they made decades ago—they will be carried to destinies both individual and collective, and to a heart-shattering revelation. Past and present merge seamlessly and collide surprisingly as Jim Lynch reveals a family unlike any other, with the grace and humor and magic of a master storyteller.