Hidden Harbours of Southwest Scotland is a lively tour of small and infrequently visited harbours on the stunning Scottish coast and its nearby islands, starting from Port Logan in the south and meandering northwards to Lerags on Loch Feochan in the Firth of Lorn. The southwest coast of Scotland is one of the most beautiful cruising areas in the world, combining dramatic scenery with interesting history and landmarks. Many of its shores are lined with old castles and the magnificent historical houses of rich industrialists, reflecting its significance as an area of busy trade. The more recent military developments, which include a wartime torpedo base at Loch Long and the naval headquarters at Faslane on Gare Loch, also have a significant presence. Small harbours further south were shaped by the trade in natural resources and the flow of passengers via Clyde Puffer boats to and from nearby cities such as Glasgow and beyond. Each hidden harbour, many of which are simple but attractive piers or shipways built to support trade, has a story to tell. The book includes a historical overview plus notes on what is to be found at each, alongside full colour photographs and annotated aerial shots. This edition complements the other Hidden Harbours titles in the series by Dag Pike.

REVIEWS: SAILING MAGAZINE:

Earning the Golden Sail: It is the goal of many of us--retiring from the rat race, buying a sailboat, and sailing off into the sunset. But the questions loom large. What type of boat? Where do we sail? How will we manage?

These are all questions sailing contributor, Matts Djos and his wife Jeanine, faced when he retired in 2006 and his search for answers is recorded in his new book, "Sailing Out of Retirement."

Starting with a trailerable Balboa 26, Matts and Jeanine move up to a Mariner 31 ketch, which they restore and fit out for cruising. Some of the chapters have appeared previously in SAILING Magazine and may be familiar to readers, but they've been updated for the book. For retirees and the curious of all ages, the book will serve as a guide and case study of one couple's endeavor to live the dream (May 2011). CRUISING WORLD:

In a nation of baby boomers, this volume targets an often ignored niche: senior sailors. The crux of the book is a primer based on the septuagenarian author's experiences gleaned when, after retirement, he and his wife bought a Mariner 31 ketch and went cruising. Djos advises on choosing and buying a pre-owned boat, refitting, selecting a marina, heavy weather tactics, and medical issues for older cruisers . SOUNDINGS MAGAZINE:

Seasoned sailors with the wind still in their sails might consider "Sailing Out of Retirement: Living the Dream" by the veteran cruising couple, Matts and Jeanine Djos. The two have extensively sailed the West Coast from Canada to Mexico, and Matts has written extensively as a freelance writer for multiple nautical magazines. In their new book, the retired couple offers suggestions on how to find the right used boat--drawing from their own experience--from an extensive restoration to a shakedown cruise.

Also chronicled are the nuances of marinas and moorings; short and long term cruising, common sense seamanship, matters of personal health, safety and onboard ambiance and comfort--all geared toward retirees and seniors .

The Djoses currently sail a trailerable 26 foot Balboa and a Mariner 31, which is moored in San Pedro, Calif. .

48 NORTH: . . . of special interest to novices, adventurers, retirees, and armchair sailors . . . Given their experience over fifty years under sail, Matts and Jeanine describe how to find just the right pre-owned boat, including what may be involved in an extensive refit, restoration, and shakedown. . . . AUTHOR'S DESCRIPTION This is a book for retirees, armchair sailors, dreamers, and lovers of the wind and sea. Sailing couple, Matts and Jeanine Djos, will suggest how to find just the right pre-owned boat by their own example and describe from personal experience what may be involved in buying and refitting a boat, shaking it down, and finding just the right marina. Also included are tactics for heavy weather sailing, common sense seamanship, the pleasures (and advantages) of seniority, personal health and safety, and onboard ambiance and comfort. As the great poet, Tennyson, wrote of Ulysses, "There lies the port, the vessel puffs her sail, and while much is taken, much still abides." So come join them, and perhaps you too shall discover something unexpected and remarkable about the rollicking sea, the wayward heavens, and the wonder of discovering a well-found boat that suits your needs perfectly Matts Djos is a lifelong sailor and boating enthusiast. He and Jeanine have sailed much of the West, including the Pacific Northwest, Canada, Mexico, California, the Great Southwest, and the Rockies. Matts has written extensively on sailing and is a free-lance writer for 48 North, Sail, Sailing, and Cruising World. He and Jeanine are the Authors of The Sacrament of Sail: Finding Our Way (Amazon, 2011). Matts is the author of The Spindrift (Amazon, 2012).

In 1998 Brec Morgan set off in his 27' Pacific Seacraft Orion to sail around the world. He left from Block Island, Rhode Island, and by the time he arrived in the Pacific via the Panama Canal, he was convinced that it would be a solo circumnavigation. He crossed the Pacific spending an idyllic summer cruising through Polynesia before heading to New Zealand for the winter. This book is a compilation of emails prepared from a journal he sent home from New Zealand that chronicle his thoughts, experiences, and challenges in his first year out. It includes "the rest of the story" in more condensed form by supplying the draft material for his complete round-the-world narrative for "Blue Water Sailing." So, this book is more than the start of a dream come true, it finishes it by bringing the reader along from New Zealand to Sri Lanka, the Suez, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and back to Block Island by way of the Carribean.

A couple designs its own somewhat unconventional boat and sets out to sea. The boat is not ready, neither are they. But the ocean is a rigorous teacher and does not spare them the worst...

If you've ever dreamed of sailing off into the sunset with someone you love, and seeing the world, you will love this book. It is about young singles, cruising around on a beautiful yacht, skiing in the Alps, scuba diving in exotic locales, living the LUSH LIFE. it has elements of romance, drug dealing, getting caught, and redemption. All this and a love story which I am hoping will appeal to women as well as men. The protagonist, Ward Sheffield, get's invited on a sailing trip to the legendary COCOS ISLAND, and has an affair with the Captain's wife. They discover a chest of gold coins, left by pirates, and decide to buy a boat together and go cruising. They enlist friends as crew and take off for Europe. Follow their sailing adventures in the Mediteranean, and their love affairs which are cut short when they are busted returning to the Bahamas with drugs aboard. The boat is confiscated and the Captain jailed. In the end, the LUSH LIFE carries on unabashed.

A song to Pacific islands rooted in a far-ranging journey, Reach for Paradise is the Pacific addition to the world's fine travel literature. Written as he gained deep knowledge of the islands and their peoples, their history and traditions, the influences that have shaped their destiny, Rayner's story conveys the mystery and marvel of travel to destinations denied most people. Intent on exploring what if anything has survived of the paradise celebrated by travelers of past centuries, Rayner bought a sailboat and set off, picking up both boat and island knowledge as he ploughed 30,000 miles of ocean. A personal journey of delight, Reach for Paradise is rich with information gleaned from Pacific peoples, literature and observation. For Pacific voyagers, Reach for Paradise is an invaluable source. If a guide, rather than explaining how to get there it is the sort that will tell thoughtful adventurers why to go. And what you miss if you can't. Protected uniquely by distance and time, Pacific islands are extraordinary, often meeting the old definition of that devalued word "paradise" as a place that inspires blissful contentment. Island spirits and magic, landscapes, the splendor of coral reefs, the gift economy, Rayner defies you to argue that planet Earth has any better elixir for a world-weary traveler.

This is a book of remembrances, about 60 years of experiences in Sail boats, Powerboats, canoes and sea kayaks. It is a book about places from the Maine coast to North and South Carolina, Florida Okinawa and Israel. I want to share a life time of joy and experiences on and around the water in small boats. Experiences which include quiet and peace as well as times of high adventure. If you chose to read my book, I hope you greatly enjoy it and have some sea adventures of your own.

FROM THE KIRKUS REVIEW: ""As a writer, Damato makes his rehabilitation of the craft surprisingly interesting . . . his pithy prose keeps the story speeding along.""

Do you have a dream to pursue but everyone says it's unrealistic? Or that you're not qualified? Too old, too out of shape? Or you don't have the "right experience?"

Glenn Damato was a forty-one year old software instructor who sought to exceed the bounds of his comfortable but humdrum existence. He embarked on an adventure for which he was miserably unprepared. Why do this? The goal was to become something he was not.

The "something" Damato strived to become was an ocean sailing skipper. Overweight and without boating experience of any kind, he decided to pursue his lifelong dream of sailing around the world on his own vessel.

Reckless? Dangerous? Idiotic? Call it what you will, Damato was determined to make the voyage a reality despite the obstacles.

Suddenly without the familiar security of his previous life, Damato was forced to conquer his anxieties while at the same time surviving the hazards and challenges of offshore sailing. As his experience and confidence mounts, he discovers he has indeed undergone a personal transformation - one quite different than he originally hoped, and in some ways worthier than he imagined.

"Breaking Seas" is a tale of ocean voyaging, but it's not just about sailing: the all-encompassing themes are rejection and disappointment - and our common human quest to get the most out of life despite being born into an imperfect universe.

Part sailing adventure, part philosophical pilgrimage, "Breaking Seas" is for everyone who's ever wanted to embark on an enterprise of some kind despite not meeting society's expected "qualifications."

""This is a story about our desire to be elsewhere, reborn and enhanced, because here and now are not enough,"" says Damato. ""But don't expect a sugar-coated fairy tale with just what you want to hear. I promise you an honest story truthfully told.""

Title: Two years before the mast: a personal narrative.Author: Richard Henry DanaPublisher: Gale, Sabin Americana Description: Based on Joseph Sabin's famed bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana, Sabin Americana, 1500--1926 contains a collection of books, pamphlets, serials and other works about the Americas, from the time of their discovery to the early 1900s. Sabin Americana is rich in original accounts of discovery and exploration, pioneering and westward expansion, the U.S. Civil War and other military actions, Native Americans, slavery and abolition, religious history and more.Sabin Americana offers an up-close perspective on life in the western hemisphere, encompassing the arrival of the Europeans on the shores of North America in the late 15th century to the first decades of the 20th century. Covering a span of over 400 years in North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, this collection highlights the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary opinions and momentous events of the time. It provides access to documents from an assortment of genres, sermons, political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, literature and more.Now for the first time, these high-quality digital scans of original works are available via print-on-demand, making them readily accessible to libraries, students, independent scholars, and readers of all ages.++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++SourceLibrary: Huntington LibraryDocumentID: SABCP04360500CollectionID: CTRG03-B437PublicationDate: 18690101SourceBibCitation: Selected Americana from Sabin's Dictionary of books relating to AmericaNotes: " A]uthor's edition"--pref.Collation: vii, 470 p.: ill.; 19 cm

An action packed account of the voyages by the author, his family and friends over twenty years and 60,000 miles in a home-made yacht in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Red Sea and Indian Ocean. With its fair share of unexpected adventures, violent weather and hilarious episodes, sometimes in pirate infested waters, this is a good read for anyone, especially those thinking of going cruising, at sea now, or who have let go the rope's end.

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic, timeless works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

For anyone who has considered spending their retirement sailing, this book has plenty of advice. Even at a young age both Sylvia and I wanted to sail the oceans of the world and when that chance came we didn't hesitate. We sold all we owned to enable us to experience different cultures and the beauty of the South Pacific. Along the way we met other cruisers of all age groups and nationalities, so it seems for us the sea has become a great leveller. Our voyage began with optimism for us both and we were aware of the dangers ahead. We started from Tauranga on the east coast of the North Island in the Bay of Plenty and sailed up to the Kerikeri Marina in Bay of Islands, then after careful preparation Sun Chaser and crew left New Zealand bound for the Fijian Islands. Whilst sailing around these colourful islands we encountered things both good and bad. We found corruption and theft but also the abundant wild life that most people only see on TV or read about. We learned a lot and have included many handy hints at the back of the book. Full colour photos throughout.

In this recollection of a life-time of ocean sailing, Mike Gemus describes his sailing roots racing on the Detroit River, the blinding obsession with sailing he acquired, and the several offshore ocean passages - including three Atlantic crossings - that followed. True stories all of them, Mike brings you aboard to see the storms, the ego-eccentric crew mates, the lunatic captains, and the wonderful folks and experiences that came along during these Ocean Passages. Written for the sailor and the non-sailor alike, Ocean Passages compares with the offshore sailing stories written by the great adventurers. Want to go yourself? Mike tells you how to do it, how NOT to do it, and what surprises to expect along the way.