Ben Starling

How do you move from dreaming about cruising to actually doing it - and what's it really like to live aboard a yacht?

Best Part: The authors' dry delivery style is quite engaging. You get a strong impression of what having drinks at the taverna with them would be like - a lot of fun!

Though it does discuss repairs and some technical topics, really the focus of the book is on the stuff of 'life aboard'. With a palatable ratio of info-to-anecdotes that makes it an enjoyable read.

Wishes: The book I borrowed is copyright 2001. It looks like there is a 2005 edition on Amazon. Still, I wish there was a more recent edition. A more up to date and comprehensive tome to invest in (a real biceps builder) would be The Voyager's Handbook, by Beth Leonard. It's got the soft stuff as well as a ton of technical detail too.

Conclusion: Sell Up & Sail gives a feel for what cruising was like 10 and 20 years ago - and how things have changed. Apparently it's a lot more crowded and harder to find isolated spots in the Med these days. Since I won't know what I'm missing, I guess I won't be too devastated.

But things have changed and up to date info is pretty crucial to get - for instance, the Gulf of Aden is listed in this book as a perfectly fine route to sail. Of course, this just ain't currently so. Don't leave home without getting up to date info on crucial safety topics like this!

And the sections on communications equipment and electronics really speak of a bygone age. Technology and brand names have moved on, everything's changed.

So while it was a fun historical romp and I'm glad I borrowed it to read, it's probably not the first investment to choose for an up to date cruising library. I'd look forward to looking at an updated edition of this in the future, however.