Explore the natural beauty of Maryland by water. With the Chesapeake Bay-the largest estuary in the United States-the Potomac, Monocacy, and Patapsco Rivers, and countless streams, creeks, swamps, and marshes, Maryland is an ideal locale for people to take to the water and enjoy the natural beauty of the Free State. In Paddle Maryland, lifelong Marylander and devoted paddler Bryan MacKay presents twenty-two of his favorite canoe and kayak trips. From lazy floats down the Potomac to swamp excursions on the Eastern Shore, each trip has been selected for its incredible scenery and ample opportunities to observe nature. Included are both tidal and nontidal paddling trips, and MacKay, an ecologist, describes the wildlife and vegetation you will encounter along the way. Considering biodiversity, conservation, and climate change, MacKay also discusses what these issues mean for Maryland's waterways and their inhabitants. With its beautiful illustrations and wealth of practical advice and information, this indispensable guide will appeal to all who love to explore the natural wonders of Maryland with a paddle in their hands. Paddle Maryland is a companion guide to Hike Maryland and Cycle Maryland.

Gold medal winning coach, Jon Emmett works with sailors and coaches around the world and is frequently asked things like: 'What is a good exercise to improve this?' 'Why do we do this exercise?' 'How do we make the exercise more / less difficult?' This book is the answer to those frequently asked questions. It contains training exercises for each element of a sailing race. As well as describing and illustrating the exercise, it tells you what skills you are trying to improve, why and how to make the exercise harder or easier. The book will enable coaches to deliver better, more focussed, training sessions, but it will also help sailors who don't have the benefit of a coach to practise and improve their sailing skills. The exercises are marked as to whether they are suitable for solo boats, groups of boats or those with a coach boat. As Aristotle said: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit." Armed with this book, get out, do some training and improve your sailing skills!

An inspiring guide to activities and adventures to re-energise and boost your mood, by our rivers, lakes and canals. While Britain's rivers, lakes and canals have long been co-opted by fitness enthusiasts for the physical benefits they can bring, it's only relatively recently that we've given much thought to their impact on our mental state too. 'Blue health' - the idea that having access to an area of water can benefit a person's whole wellbeing - is gaining traction. These waterside places are fundamental to the kind of stuff people now realise they need in their lives - exercise, solace, natural beauty and new places to socialise - with so many of them on our doorstep. Just Add Water is your guide to the many mood-boosting and wellbeing activities, adventures and escapes that our inland waterways have to offer. Nearly 200 destinations are featured, organised into 15 core activities, covering the length and breadth of the UK, making this the ideal companion for anyone planning a day trip or boating holiday. Expert journalist Sarah Henshaw explains how the activities can re-energise, inspire and relax, weaving their wellbeing benefits with practical information to help you get the most out of each experience. Accompanied by stunning images, the handbook includes everything from mudlarking to wild swimming, fishing to foraging towpath hedgerows, paddleboarding to learning how to paint canal folk art. There are also inspirational first-hand accounts of the many ways our waterways have made a difference to people's day-to-day lives - including a high-flying exec who finds commuting by water a great way to manage stress. This guide showcases the multiple ways to be on, in, under or next to water, and how it can enhance the whole spectrum of lived experience.

"Everything creaks and bends in heavy seas - what will not bend will simply snap. So many times I wondered how much load we could carry in a powerful storm without breaking apart. If we flooded any faster I would drown in seconds." Patrick Dixon spent years working as a doctor at University College Hospital, while his wife Sheila was a magistrate - high-pressure careers that demanded long hours away from their home, family and passion for sailing. It is a frustrating story many occasional sailors can relate to, but unlike most, Patrick and Sheila realised early enough that they could only bend so far before something snapped, they could only take on so much before they drowned. This is their story of how they made changes (some more challenging than others) that they knows other sailors could make too, regardless of where they are at the moment - how they changed their priorities but managed to sustain a new career that fitted in around life rather than the other way round. It is also the story of their personal journey, both physically (across the Atlantic and to little-visited corners of the Mediterranean) and metaphorically - how a doctor who treated cancer patients coped with a partner facing the same battle. Neither of them wanted to let that flood things either. Through their personal story, with plenty of mishaps that led to insights (both about sailing and life in general), and encounters that turned into opportunities, Patrick and Sheila explore the importance of prioritising the right things in life, and the simple benefits of travel. The book is packed with inspiring but practical advice for all those who have salt in the blood.

This is a classic real-life story of derring do on the high seas, complete with extreme risk, last-minute ingenuity and many near-misses.

Beginning in the 1960s, this book tells of the real life adventures of the author as a boy - a time of boarding schools, long holidays and an unbelievable (to today's parents) amount of freedom and danger. Encouraged by his parents (who lived abroad) to become more independent and self-sufficient, Peter decided to see how far he could get in his family's small open dinghy Calypso. Aged 16, he spent a winter restoring her, before pootling straight out into a force 7 gale and very nearly capsizing, after which he headed back to land to plan even more extreme adventures.

Calypso was a Wayfarer, a small (16ft) and very popular class of open dinghy; a boat designed for pottering around coastlines and estuaries during the day. But along with the occasional brave crewmate, Peter managed to sail her across the Channel, through the Bay of Biscay, down the French canals and into the Mediterranean, then up into the North Sea and the Baltic to Oslo, living aboard for three months at a time. These were some of the longest voyages that anyone had ever achieved in an open boat, where (as Peter says) you 'have to be like a tightrope walker, concentrating on balance day and night, fully aware of the consequence of relaxing your vigilance'. He survived huge waves, nine rudder breakages in heavy seas, dismasting, capsizes, and hallucinations caused by sleep deprivation. He also managed it on a tiny budget, working as a farm labourer, hitchhiking everywhere, and at times living on one meal of cereal a day, to save the maximum amount for his boat.

Charming, quite British in style, beautifully written and a lovely insight into a seemingly golden time, this is primarily a great read, but will be of huge practical use to anyone wanting to go that bit further in their dinghy. It also includes a lovely Foreword by world-famous yachtsman Brian Thompson.

Martyn Murray was finding modern life, with all its restrictions and controls, suffocating. Following years of soul-searching, his father's death triggered him into opening the old logbooks and charts to retrace the sailing trips they had once shared together. He determined to revisit those waters and bring home the freedom of the seas. Falling in love with an old ketch in Ireland, he bought and restored her enough to sail back to Scotland. Over the next two summers he cruised Scotland's Western Isles, with one goal: to reach St Kilda - the remotest part of the British Isles, 40 miles from the Outer Hebrides. During his cruising he considered the islanders and their sense of freedom - often restricted by absentee landlords and officialdom. He riled against bureaucracy and commercial enterprise restricting the yachtsman's ability to roam free. For parts of his journey he was joined by the beguiling Kyla; a rare, independent spirit who both excited and frustrated Martyn. But much of Martyn's voyaging was undertaken alone, encountering a variety of places, situations and characters along the way. He attempted his long-awaited sail out to St Kilda through the teeth of a storm, believing that achieving this feat would bring him the freedom and clarity that he craved. What he came up against was far more testing and turbulent than the tides and gales of the North Atlantic. As he sailed back to the mainland things fell into place: a sense of achievement in completing the arduous voyage alone, but - most of all - an understanding of who he is, clarity on his relationship with Kyla and a real sense of his own freedom.

Naming a boat is as personal as naming a baby (even if few male skippers would risk telling the wife that). The culmination of many years of dreaming and penny pinching, the purchase of a boat of any size is a huge event for any sailor, and with that comes serious naming pressure. Many boatowners have a secret fear that someone else got their brilliantly original name first - or ruined it for ever by reducing its reputation to snigger-worthy opprobrium. Sometimes it's so difficult to name a boat that skippers are desperate enough to ask the sorts of people who think Boaty McBoatface would be a good choice... The perfect gift for any skipper or would-be skipper, and featuring hundreds of common and uncommon names, this entertaining little book will answer perhaps the most important question new owners should ask themselves: what will this name say about me? And as everyone knows, once you've named a boat, you never ever change it, so it also answers the question: what is my boat name saying about me? Names will be categorised and listed alphabetically within these chapters: - Pun Intended (some reveal a classic wit, others reveal just how many desperate unfunny dullards there are sailing around in yachts called Seas the Day) - Common as Muck (bad names - Moondancer, Wave Catcher and others that sound like names from a bad children's novel: where they come from, why they're bad, and how to avoid inventing another) - A Bit of Pedigree (good names - but probably too classy for you to get away with copying them) - Don't Even Go There (they might be uncommon these days, but sometimes there's a good reason for that) - Word Piracy (expressions borrowed from other languages - with varying degrees of wisdom) - Myths, Legends and Gods (inspired by heroes and deities of cultures now lost to the past) - The Devil's Own (don't tempt fate by calling your boat Invincible, as the Royal Navy did each time the last one sank/exploded - plus other superstition-violating names) With fascinating history, a fair bit of psychology and a lot of humour, this is the essential guide for all would-be boat owners, and anyone buying a gift for Dad for Father's Day or Christmas.

The Boatyard Book is a practical, comprehensive reference manual that provides sensible, accessible advice for boatowners on planning and carrying out annual maintenance, repairs, upgrades and refits of sailing yachts and motorboats, up to 20 metres in length. Beginning with all the information owners will need to care for their boat, including how to budget and plan tasks to be done through the year, The Boatyard Book goes on to help them choose the best boatyard for their needs, then provides essential how-to reference material and ideas for a comprehensive range of projects large and small to be carried out ashore. There's advice and tips from highly respected boatyard owners, specialists and surveyors, as well as from the author's own 25 years' experience of boat ownership, all fully illustrated with step-by-step photos and illustrations. Topics covered include: - laying up - hull and deck care - mast and rigging - sail care - engines - electrics - maintenance of plumbing and gas systems - more complex projects, including re-wiring a boat, overhauling an engine, how to treat osmosis and how to go about a complete refit. This is a book to be kept at the yard, or on the boat, and used time and time again by those who are either happy to keep things ticking along with the minimum of effort or by those who want to get stuck into bigger projects.

A fascinating and original look at how the sea has defined Britain - and decided the course of its history - for thousands of years. Being an island nation is a core part of the British identity. An estimated two thirds of the world's population have never seen the sea, but in the UK that drops to under 10 per cent. Yet most people don't appreciate the impact our position on the edge of a continental shelf has had on our history, going back thousands of years. Our coast neither starts nor ends at the beach, and this eye-opening book takes a look beneath the surface to explore the forces of nature that have made Britain what it is. We experience some of the highest tides on the planet and we are battered with waves that have travelled halfway around the globe before they get here, but most of what we understand about our unique waters has only been discovered in living memory. In this fascinating guided tour of the fantastically varied British coastline, Professor David Bowers combines oceanography with maritime history, explaining tides, currents and waves in an accessible way whilst revealing how they have been responsible for both salvation (the Channel alone checked the Nazi advance in 1940) and disaster (such as the catastrophic 1953 flooding that led to the ingenious development of the Thames tidal barrier). He covers everything from how ocean swell waves were first recorded here in preparation for the D-Day landings, to how the first underwater light measurements paved the way to modern ocean satellite observation. This is a story 8,000 years in the making, ever since the country broke away from mainland Europe in the Mesolithic era, and in his insightful and irreverent telling of it Professor Bowers shows that the British Isles are defined by the sea, regardless of whether you look at them from land or water. With exclusive photos and specially commissioned illustrations, the book encourages you to visit all the places it explores, but when you stand on the beach or clifftop you will never think of Britain in quite the same way again.

The Big Book of Boat Canvas is a thorough revision and updating of Karen Lipes two popular earlier books, Boat Canvas Cover to Cover and More Boat Canvas, combined with a whole new section on below-decks sewing projects. In this latest volume Lipe ranges well beyond the boundaries of traditional canvas work to create a comprehensive guide to fabric work on board. Youll find dozens of traditional canvas projects--sail covers, awnings, duffel bags, dodgers, and Biminis, wind chutes, winter covers--all with clear, step-by-step instructions, generously illustrated. Youll also find dozens of not-so-traditional fabric projects to add comfort and a touch of elegance to your below-decks spaces: custom interior cushions, fitted sheets and daycovers, privacy curtains, lee cloths, even a tablecloth to fit your varnished table. Lipe offers a veritable minicourse in interior yacht decoration, dozens of useful sewing tips, a careful detailing of materials nad tools needed for each project, and an extensive discussion of modern fabrics appropriate for exterior and interior use. In short, this handy book covers everything you need to know to sew comfort, utility, and style into your boat.

A treasure of functional and fanciful projects you can sew yourself.--Multihulls

Youll find this book of the utmost practical help.--The Ensign

It passed what is for me the acid test of a how-to book: The Big Book of Boat Canvas made me want to get at some long-neglected projects and even to try some that I never thought I could manage.--SAIL

'No sea voyage can be dull for a man who has an eye for the ever-changing sea and sky, the waves, the wind and the way of a ship upon the water.' So observes H.W. 'Bill' Tilman in this account of two lengthy voyages in which dull intervals were few and far between. In 1966, after a succession of eventful and successful voyages in the high latitudes of the Arctic, Tilman and his pilot cutter Mischief head south again, this time with the Antarctic Peninsula, Smith Island and the unclimbed Mount Foster in their sights. Mischief goes South is an account of a voyage marred by tragedy and dogged by crew trouble from the start. Tilman gives ample insight into the difficulties associated with his selection of shipmates and his supervision of a crew, as he wryly notes, 'to have four misfits in a crew of five is too many'. The second part of this volume contains the author's account of a gruelling voyage south, an account left unwritten for ten years for lack of time and energy. Originally intended as an expedition to the remote Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, this 1957 voyage evolved into a circumnavigation of Africa, the unplanned consequence of a momentary lapse in attention by an inexperienced helmsman. The two voyages described in Mischief goes South covered 43,000 miles over twenty-five months spent at sea and, while neither was deemed successful, published together they give a fine insight into Tilman's character.

On 14th June 1968 Robin Knox-Johnston set sail from Falmouth to take part in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race - the first, non-stop, single-handed sailing race around the world. He was an unknown 29-year old Merchant Navy Officer. Ten and a half months later he sailed back into Falmouth, the only finisher in the race and the first man to complete a non-stop solo circumnavigation. Since then he has had an illustrious sailing career, with 3 further circumnavigations, including the fastest circumnavigation and last racing solo round the world in 2007, aged 68. Few people have sailed as many miles as Robin. Now, 50 years since setting out on the Golden Globe Race, you can benefit from Robin's wealth of experience as he shares his thoughts on seamanship and seafaring in this new book, selected from his most provoking, insightful and perceptive writing from the pages of Yachting World magazine. The first half of the book concentrates on seamanship and looks at the skills and gear required. The second half allows Robin to reminisce on memorable boats, races and places he has experienced in his last 50 years of seafaring. The book starts with an original piece by Robin reflecting on the last 50 years.

Modern braided ropes have transformed sailing with incredible strength from ever smaller thickness. They are a godsend to the racing sailor who is always looking for strength without additional weight. The nature of these ropes requires different techniques to join them together or make eyes to attach to fittings and this is where this book comes in. It is a guide to the different types of braided ropes - where to use and how to splice them for typical uses on a racing sailboat. It provides clear easy-to-follow photographs and is splash-proof and spiral bound, which means that it is perfect to take into the dinghy park or onboard and use where you need to do your splicing. It lays out flat, so you don't have to hold it open as you follow the sequences with both your hands full of rope and fids!

Plans included: Mylor Yacht Harbour (1:10 000) Falmouth Marina (1:5000) Falmouth Inner Harbour (1:10 000)

Reading Dr. Gould's excellent guide to handling medical emergencies and having it aboard as a ready reference can make any boater more confident in coping with a medical emergency afloat. Special sections on using the radio and dealing with a medical evacuation will be helpful to an inexperienced crew member faced with a disabled captain. This selection from the Cornell Boaters Library is designed for those who do not plan to go on blue-water cruises, but who need to know how to deal with medical emergencies on board. The book is clear, explicit, and spiced with anecdotes from the authors own adventures afloat.

The crew of a racing boat is as important as the helmsman - they work as a team to sail as fast as they can. But different members of that team have different roles in the boat. In addition to the obvious roles which belong to the crew - trimming the jib and spinnaker and helping keep the boat upright - the crew can also contribute to tactics, boat tuning, watching the competition and so on. In this book, Olympic gold medallist crew, Saskia Clark, describes all that is needed to become a top-rate crew, or just be a better crew at whatever level you want to compete at. She initially takes you through getting started as a crew and team - choosing a boat and setting your goals. She then turns to the specific crewing skills of hiking, trapezing, tacking, gybing, handling the spinnaker and having good boatspeed on each leg of the course. The focus then turns to racing and particularly the roles of each member of the team, communication, decision making and execution around the race course. Finally, she brings it all together with advice on how you can be the best crew and a great team. Packed with photographs this is the ultimate book for crews whether they are trying to win a championship or just wanting to sail at their local club. If your helm doesn't buy it for you, treat yourself!

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston burst to fame when he became the first man ever to complete a single-handed, non-stop circumnavigation of the world. Now, 50 years on from that famous voyage, he reveals the true, extraordinary story of his life. After leaving school, he immediately joined the Royal Naval Reserve before serving in the merchant navy and travelling the world. During that time, he spied for the British government in the Gulf, worked in the South African dockyards, and built his boat Suhaili in Bombay, before sailing home to England. In June 1968, he set sail in Suhaili in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, and Running Free vividly brings to life that remarkable voyage, where he was the only person to finish the race, completing his journey on 22 April 1969 and thus entering the record books. Once back home, he set up a hugely successful business and continued his naval adventures, completing a second solo circumnavigation of the globe in 2007 - at 68, he became the oldest to complete this feat. Knox-Johnston's insatiable appetite for life and adventure shines through these pages, making this book a must for all sailing enthusiasts, readers of books by Ranulph Fiennes and Chris Bonington, or for anyone who has felt that the time for putting up your feet can always be put back to another day.

In this new edition, the south-west coast of England is described in 50 great voyages, from the Isle of Wight to the Scilly Isles to the Severn Estuary. As well as describing 50 great kayaking journeys, this updated book presents all the navigational and tidal information a sea kayaker needs on this magnificent section of coast. This means that it can also be used as a kayaker's 'pilot' for any journey they might wish to undertake in this area. It follows the successful format of other Pesda Press sea kayaking guides, presenting the information in a user-friendly fashion and making good use of maps and colour photographs. As well as providing essential information on where to start and finish, distances, times and tidal information, the book does much to stimulate and inform our interest in the environment we are passing through. It is full of facts and anecdotes about local history, geology, scenery, seabirds and sea mammals.

This is the first book on the subject published on this side of the Atlantic, with our different fish species, techniques and approach. The book is aimed at the angler who has taken up or is curious about kayak fishing. Experienced kayakers will also benefit from Andy's kayak fishing wisdom. Topics include: Choosing your fishing kayak and equipment. Practical tips on modifying your kayak and installing a fish finder. Kayaking with confidence and staying safe at sea. Seamanship; tides, weather and charts for anglers and kayakers. Using handheld GPS and VHF radios. Fishing skills; top tips on anchoring and 'downtiding' from your kayak. What to fish for; Andy's tips for catching your favourite fish. And more, including freshwater fish and wreck fishing.

"English Canoe Classics" is an illustrated guide to some of the finest tours of northern England's waterways, from the North Tyne in Northumbria to the Shropshire Union Canal in the West Midlands. Scenic lakes, placid canals and broad rivers, as they can only be seen from a canoe or kayak. Eddie and 'Wilf' have chosen the best inland touring routes. They are described in great detail and illustrated with numerous colour photos and maps. The selected routes are suitable for open canoes, sit-on-tops and touring kayaks. Many of them can be tackled as a single voyage or a series of day trips, with campsites en route. The journeys are all accessible but highly varied, taking place on lakes, sheltered coastline, rivers and canals. A wonderful book for planning voyages and inspiring dreams, or sharing your experiences with others. Eddie Palmer bought his first kayak over 50 years ago. It was a wood and canvas one in which he set out to paddle rivers in his part of middle England and Wales. Since then, he has kayaked and canoed extensively in the UK, Ireland, western and eastern Europe, the USA and Canada and southern Africa. His passion over the past few years has been for long-distance canoe-camping. After a competitive career in slalom and whitewater racing, he still paddles whitewater. Eddie is a Board Director of the SCA and is the co-author of Scottish Canoe Touring, author of Scottish Canoe Classics and co-author of Irish Canoe Classics (all published by Pesda Press). Nigel Wilford has been involved with canoeing for most of his adult life, paddling throughout the UK, mainland Europe, Canada, USA and New Zealand. Born in northwest Leicestershire, his first canoe experience was on the gentle River Soar. Not long after, he moved to Yorkshire to attend university. The enjoyment he found while paddling the rivers of the northeast firmly established canoeing as his activity of choice. In 1991 he joined the British Canoe Union's coaching service, helping others to improve their canoeing or to become better coaches. Nigel has held various roles within the BCU including Local Coaching Organiser and English Whitewater Safety Coordinator. He is a BCU Level 5 Coach and member of Team Pyranha.

Covering the Ionian, Carian, West and East Lycian Coasts, the Turkey Cruising Companion is the essential pilot guide for anyone cruising the area. Drawing on all her local knowledge and expertise, Emma Watson provides clear pilotage directions to a variety of harbours and anchorages, as well as offering useful information on the facilities and shops available.

Helpful suggestions of where to eat and what to do ashore along with valuable insights into the history and culture of Turkey are also included.

Turkey Cruising Companion incorporates superb photography and full colour harbour plans, is easy to use for planning as well as on board.

Plans included: Ayvalik (Turkey) (1:75 000) Sigri (N. Lesvos) (1:30 000) Entrance to Kolpos Kalloni (N. Lesvos) (1:30 000) Entrance to Kolpos Yeras (N. Lesvos) (1:40 000) Mitilini (N. Lesvos) (1:10 000) Bademli Limani (Turkey) (1:40 000) On this 2014 edition, the chart has been fully revised and updated throughout. The new TSS in the approaches to Aliaga is shown, as are developments to the new Mitilini Marina. Details of the recently deployed AIS transmitters are shown across the chart.