One Hand for Yourself, One for the Ship: The Essentials of Single-Handed Sailing

by Tristan Jones

Tristan Jones has logged more miles--and more adventure--sailing single-handed than any other person alive in our time. He has crossed the Atlantic many times, often alone, and has circumnavigated the globe in small boats. One Hand for Yourself, One for the Ship is a course on single-handed sailing by the man most qualified to give it. Tristan Jones offers his highly personal perspective on both the science and the art of this ultimate challenge. It is a book for every sailor, giving the novice and the experienced sailor alike invaluable information and advice simply and with humor. Rich with anecdote and detail, written as only Tristan Jones can write, this is the handbook to turn to when planning a trip and to refer to when sailing.

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Arthur Jones, pen name Tristan Jones was a prolific English author and mariner. His stories, mostly about sailing, are a combination of both fact and fiction, and it is rather difficult to tell these apart.
He was an illegitimate child, and was raised mainly in orphanages. He joined the Royal Navy in 1946, and served for 14 years. After ending his career in the Navy, he bought a sailboat, became a whiskey smuggler, and scraped a living sailing the Mediterranean Sea.
After his left leg was amputated in 1982 (a result of health problems and accidents), he resumed sailing and sailed the trimaran Outward Leg from San Diego to London, then across central Europe by river and canal to the Black Sea, and then around south Asia to Thailand.
After the amputation of his right leg in 1991 he only returned briefly to sea, and he lived in Phuket, Thailand, he converted to Islam and took on the name 'Ali'.

Reviews

[David]

Tristan Jones will always be on my Mount Rushmore of authors!

[Lillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

"One Hand for Yourself, One for the Ship" is a single-handed sailing guide book. It is well written and informative, and it is definitely a must-read for people who want to sail the ocean alone. It's not exactly a page-turner (I mean, it's not a novel, is it?), but it's interesting enough. I struggles through the chapters on fiber-glassing and navigation, but those are the only ones that are hard to understand, if you know terms such as fore, aft, halyard, genoa, leeward, etc.

[R.Bruce Macdonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in a New York hospital after his first leg amputation this book was Jones' contribution to sailors who want to learn about single-handed sailing.

[Don Groves · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one I read and re-read every time I wish I still had a sailboat.