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Come aboard
Come Aboard
250 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 30, 2013
Come Aboard is a wonderful book for anyone who is (a) interested in world cruising in a small sailboat and (b) already at least somewhat knowledgeable about the subject. Hiscock was one of the world's foremost authorities on this subject, having circumnavigated under wind power multiple times with only his wife Susan as crew. This is also a fascinating glimpse back into a time when taking pictures of your trip meant developing film in a darkroom while at sea, and publishing a manuscript meant stopping at a port to mail a large stack of actual paper from one side of the world to the other. In this digital age, it seems quaint, but that's exactly how Hiscock did it.
This book chronicles his third circumnavigation, this time on board their 49-foot, steel-hulled, jib-headed ketch, Wanderer IV.
Aside from writing his books, Hiscock, after a career in the Royal Navy (he served as Chief Engineer on a submarine chaser), funded his ongoing travels by giving thousands of slide-show lectures to yacht clubs and other groups at a time when sailing across oceans in a small boat was still a highly unusual achievement.
Hiscock does not pause to explain all of the nautical terminology that he uses; he assumes that his readers are already at least moderately informed on basic boat construction and fundamental principles of seamanship. He can be harsh. Hiscock expresses a lot of strongly felt personal opinions on best practices, and both praises and condemns various pieces of marine hardware and technology of which he either enthusiastically approves or intensely disapproves. He isn't neutral on much. Indeed, he can seem grumpy and abrasive at times, and a lot of what he says is now very, very dated since everyone has GPS, fiberglass hulls, electric winches and roller-furling. That having been said, this is still an extremely educational and informative book, written by someone who has been there, seen it, and done it -- repeatedly.
There is not much of an overarching narrative to "Come Aboard" -- it doesn't really have a beginning, a middle and an end. It reads much like a heavily annotated ship's log, filled with events and mishaps (like running aground on a sandbar after being vehemently reassured by a friend that the channel was deep enough), fluffed up with copious anecdotes, observations and tangential digressions. You can jump in and read any chapter by itself; there is no need to read it in any particular order. (This makes it an ideal book to keep with you in your bag to pull out whenever you find yourself with some time to kill.) I especially enjoyed his descriptions of the places he and his wife visited -- this is no glowing, gushing, glossy magazine article. If he thought an anchorage, island, country, town or marina was dingy, dreary and dreadful, he does not hesitate to say so. So when he characterizes a place as staggeringly beautiful, you know he means it.
I've read a lot of books about ocean voyages, and while this one might not be described as a gripping adventure, it certainly ranks very high on the "useful practical advice" and "interesting historical perspective" scales.
This book chronicles his third circumnavigation, this time on board their 49-foot, steel-hulled, jib-headed ketch, Wanderer IV.
Aside from writing his books, Hiscock, after a career in the Royal Navy (he served as Chief Engineer on a submarine chaser), funded his ongoing travels by giving thousands of slide-show lectures to yacht clubs and other groups at a time when sailing across oceans in a small boat was still a highly unusual achievement.
Hiscock does not pause to explain all of the nautical terminology that he uses; he assumes that his readers are already at least moderately informed on basic boat construction and fundamental principles of seamanship. He can be harsh. Hiscock expresses a lot of strongly felt personal opinions on best practices, and both praises and condemns various pieces of marine hardware and technology of which he either enthusiastically approves or intensely disapproves. He isn't neutral on much. Indeed, he can seem grumpy and abrasive at times, and a lot of what he says is now very, very dated since everyone has GPS, fiberglass hulls, electric winches and roller-furling. That having been said, this is still an extremely educational and informative book, written by someone who has been there, seen it, and done it -- repeatedly.
There is not much of an overarching narrative to "Come Aboard" -- it doesn't really have a beginning, a middle and an end. It reads much like a heavily annotated ship's log, filled with events and mishaps (like running aground on a sandbar after being vehemently reassured by a friend that the channel was deep enough), fluffed up with copious anecdotes, observations and tangential digressions. You can jump in and read any chapter by itself; there is no need to read it in any particular order. (This makes it an ideal book to keep with you in your bag to pull out whenever you find yourself with some time to kill.) I especially enjoyed his descriptions of the places he and his wife visited -- this is no glowing, gushing, glossy magazine article. If he thought an anchorage, island, country, town or marina was dingy, dreary and dreadful, he does not hesitate to say so. So when he characterizes a place as staggeringly beautiful, you know he means it.
I've read a lot of books about ocean voyages, and while this one might not be described as a gripping adventure, it certainly ranks very high on the "useful practical advice" and "interesting historical perspective" scales.
August 26, 2014
This book was written in 1978 about Eric and his wife Susan's third circumnavigation of the globe. They sailed from New Zealand to England via the Indian Ocean and Africa and then home across the Pacific doing a bit of island hopping.
And this was WAY before GPS and all the modern toys used in modern sailing. They spend a lot of time alone at sea and having done this trip three times, their observations about the changes in the oceans, ports and people are very interesting.
There is a lot of sailing detail, more than I was interested about on some pages but these I skimmed through.
A lot about rigging, sail, making stuff on the boat when things break, how to supply your boat while at different marinas... For anyone who has been on a boat or anyone who enjoys long journeys this book is great.
I'm not sure how many people are out there having these amazing adventures nowadays but Eric and his wife make it sound like a wonderful way to live and be truly free.
Really enjoyed reading it.
And this was WAY before GPS and all the modern toys used in modern sailing. They spend a lot of time alone at sea and having done this trip three times, their observations about the changes in the oceans, ports and people are very interesting.
There is a lot of sailing detail, more than I was interested about on some pages but these I skimmed through.
A lot about rigging, sail, making stuff on the boat when things break, how to supply your boat while at different marinas... For anyone who has been on a boat or anyone who enjoys long journeys this book is great.
I'm not sure how many people are out there having these amazing adventures nowadays but Eric and his wife make it sound like a wonderful way to live and be truly free.
Really enjoyed reading it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews