34 Best Sailing Books

Joshua Slocum recounts his solo circumnavigation aboard the sloop Spray, beginning in 1895. The memoir combines accounts of navigation, storms, unusual encounters, and distant ports with observations of life during his three-year voyage.

Bernard Moitessier recounts his solo voyage in the first Golden Globe round-the-world race. Battling storms, exhaustion, and isolation, he reflects on life at sea and the choice to continue sailing rather than return to competition.

Teenager Robin Lee Graham sets out from California in a small sloop to sail around the world. His account follows ocean passages, equipment problems, loneliness, and encounters that reshape his understanding of freedom and companionship.

Francis Chichester recounts his solo circumnavigation aboard Gipsy Moth IV at age sixty-five. The memoir follows his nine-month voyage, describing hostile seas, equipment failures, navigational challenges, and the determination required to complete the journey.

Richard Henry Dana describes two years working as a common sailor on a voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to California. His account portrays shipboard labor, harsh discipline, storms, and coastal life before the gold rush.

Peter Nichols recounts the first race to sail alone around the world without stopping. Following the competing sailors, he examines their preparations, isolation, hazardous conditions, and contrasting responses to an undertaking that tested both seamanship and psychological endurance.

Derek Lundy recounts the 1996-1997 Vendée Globe, a solo yacht race around the world through the Southern Ocean. Sailors' experiences are interwoven with explanations of storms, boat design, and the motives behind risking everything at sea.

At eighteen, Tania Aebi accepts her father's challenge to sail around the world in a small sloop. Her memoir follows dangerous passages and personal discoveries as the adventure reshapes her understanding of family, love, and independence.

John Rousmaniere surveys the skills, equipment, and judgment involved in safe sailing. Illustrated guidance covers sail handling, weather, navigation, electronics, anchoring, heavy seas, emergencies, and boat maintenance, with practical sections for applying the techniques.

Aging Cuban fisherman Santiago hooks a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream and refuses to quit. It is a spare, powerful story about endurance, pride, and what a hard-won victory can cost.

Sailor Ishmael ships aboard the whaling vessel Pequod and watches Captain Ahab drive his crew on a relentless hunt for the white whale that maimed him. Part sea adventure, part meditation on fate and obsession, this novel rewards slow, immersive reading.

Robin Knox-Johnston recounts his nonstop solo circumnavigation aboard Suhaili. The voyage tests his boat, supplies, and determination through equipment failures and difficult seas, offering a personal account of an undertaking also described in broader race histories.

Steven Callahan recounts being stranded alone in an inflatable life raft after his yacht sinks during an Atlantic crossing. His account of 76 days at sea follows the physical and psychological demands of enduring hunger, dehydration, storms, and isolation.

John Rousmaniere describes the storm that struck the 1979 Fastnet Race and overwhelmed many competing yachts. Drawing on his own participation and other sailors’ experiences, he examines the conditions, rescues, and decisions surrounding the disaster.

Thor Heyerdahl recounts crossing the Pacific on a balsa-wood raft with five companions. The expedition was intended to test whether ancient South Americans could have reached Polynesia by similar means, combining the crew's ocean experiences with the reasoning behind the voyage.

Jack Aubrey receives his first command, the small warship Sophie, and recruits physician Stephen Maturin as surgeon. Their emerging friendship accompanies the challenges of leading a crew and seeking prizes in the Mediterranean during war with France.

Junger reconstructs the 1991 storm that swallowed the Andrea Gail and the six men aboard her. He follows the fishermen, their families, and the rescue crews, building a tense account of work, weather, and disaster at sea.

G. Bruce Knecht reconstructs the 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race, when a massive storm devastated the fleet. Focusing on three boats and their crews, he follows decisions, rescue efforts, and the lasting effects on survivors.

Two Englishmen sailing among the Frisian Islands encounter signs of a secret military plan. Erskine Childers builds their investigation around shallow waters, tides, charts, and the practical challenges of navigating a small boat along an unfamiliar coast.

Nigel Calder explains the systems that keep a cruising boat operating, from batteries and wiring to diesel engines, refrigeration, steering, and plumbing. The manual connects how equipment works with maintenance procedures and ways to investigate faults.

Bernard Moitessier recounts sailing Joshua with his wife Françoise from Europe to the Pacific and home by Cape Horn. The account describes preparing the boat, managing demanding conditions, and the couple’s experience of a long ocean passage.

This general boating reference covers piloting, navigation, weather, communications, boat handling, equipment, and maintenance. The seventieth edition, edited by John Wooldridge, combines updated technology discussions with illustrated guidance intended for sailors and powerboaters on inland and coastal waters.

Don Casey brings together guides to evaluating older sailboats, repairing fiberglass, refinishing surfaces, working on electrical systems, and making or repairing sails. The illustrated collection also includes diesel-engine material by Peter Compton for maintenance and troubleshooting.

Hal Roth draws on long-distance voyages to discuss choosing and equipping a cruising sailboat, planning passages, navigating, anchoring, and living aboard. Heavy-weather advice sits alongside practical choices about budgets, equipment, and preparations for extended travel.

Nick Ward recounts surviving the catastrophic storm during the 1979 Fastnet Race. Repeated capsizes and the loss of his skipper leave his yacht in crisis, turning a sailing ambition into a desperate struggle to stay alive.

David and Daniel Hays take a small boat around Cape Horn, sharing the account in alternating father-and-son sections. Their voyage combines demanding seamanship with questions of authority, trust, and how their relationship changes far from shore.

John Kretschmer draws lessons from offshore passages and storms, explaining choices about boats, equipment, routes, and life aboard. His accounts connect difficult situations at sea with the preparation and judgment needed for long-distance sailing.

American Sailing’s introductory textbook explains boat parts, wind, sail trim, basic maneuvers, docking, and seamanship. The second edition supports the ASA 101 keelboat course while giving new sailors a structured introduction to the tasks involved in a daysail.

Lin and Larry Pardey describe heavy-weather preparation and methods for slowing or steadying a boat in rough seas. Diagrams, checklists, and voyage accounts explain heaving-to, sea anchors, and the practical considerations behind their preferred storm tactics.

David Seidman introduces sailing through illustrated explanations of wind, boat handling, rigging, navigation, and seamanship. The guide progresses from getting underway to topics such as anchoring, ropework, emergencies, and racing, helping readers develop an understanding of boats and the sea.

The Log from the Sea of Cortez presents the narrative portion of that collecting voyage, trimmed free of scientific lists and framed by a moving portrait of Ricketts, giving readers both a lively boat trip and insight into a friendship that shaped Steinbeck’s work.

Beth Leonard examines how to plan, finance, and manage a long-distance sailing life. Using contrasting cruising approaches, she discusses choosing a boat and crew, preparing equipment, handling passages, and keeping a floating home workable at sea.

Jimmy Cornell surveys ocean sailing routes with information about winds, currents, seasons, and passage planning. The ninth edition updates its guidance for changing weather patterns and provides waypoints to help navigators compare possible routes around the world.

Muriel Wylie Blanchet recalls summer voyages along British Columbia's coast with her five children after becoming a widow. Navigating a small boat through fog, tides, and storms, the family encounters wildlife and explores remote coastal places.