The Fifinella Log tells my true story of sailing around the world in a thirty-foot boat for four-and-a-half years. It describes terrible storms and three hurricanes encountered during the voyage, one of which in the Bay of Plenty off the north coast of New Zealand, damaged our boat Fifinella. During that two-day battle, Fifi lost three foresails, two mainsails, the self-steering vane, reefing pawl, a forestay, and other pieces of equipment, besides broken cupboards, destroyed books, charts, and food stocks. But it was not all like that. Weeks were spent drifting in the doldrums in energy-sapping heat, where you burnt above deck and baked below: where you gritted your teeth to cut off sharp retorts, trying to subjugate your anger and frustration to funnel it into positive action. The good times far outweighed the bad. We experienced the incredible charm of the English south coast, met many wonderful people, and visited exotic places, where we could pick breadfruit, bananas, and coconuts. We traded with islanders and made biltong from horsemeat, and dived and spear-fished our way up the Great Barrier Reef, enjoying the beauty of the Australian coast. Sailing on my own from Darwin to Durban via Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling, Seychelles, and the Comoros gave me time for introspection; I hope I am a better man for it. We had no fancy equipment, no satellite navigation aids. Our radio was basic and our funds minimal. We had a compass and a plastic sextant, navigation tables, charts, and a star chart. The sea is unforgiving and does not tolerate carelessness or mistakes. Be well prepared.
The essential reference for anyone interested in offshore sailing and ocean passages. Following on from his bestselling The Complete Day Skipper and The Complete Yachtmaster, yachting legend Tom Cunliffe turns his attentions to the third strand of the RYA syllabus. With the same hugely popular, highly practical approach, The Complete Ocean Skipper covers everything a sailor needs to know when planning and preparing for an offshore cruise or ocean passage: - Preparation: types of suitable boat, choice of rig, engine power, safety equipment, communication systems, crew preparation - On passage: ocean weather systems, forecasting, deck routines, watchkeeping, self-steering, emergencies, heavy weather techniques - Ocean navigation: electronic as well as celestial The second edition of this definitive handbook is fully updated, with new and revised content on multihulls, autopilots, radar, anchoring and software. The Complete Ocean Skipper goes beyond the theory of the RYA syllabus to ensure that readers are equipped with the knowledge of both what to do and how to go about it, in whatever circumstances. A veteran offshore yachtsman as well as an RYA examiner, Tom Cunliffe brings his experience to bear and packs this must-have guide with invaluable hands-on advice for offshore and coastal sailors alike. With clear, helpful colour photographs and diagrams throughout, this is the essential book for anyone planning for or dreaming about sailing further afield.
The Complete Yachtmaster has been a bestseller since first publication and has established itself as the standard reference for Yachtmaster students as well as skippers of all levels of experience. In this fully revised and up-to-date 9th edition, Tom Cunliffe brings together all the essentials of modern cruising in one volume. He presents an analysis of a good skipper, the theory and practice of sailing and sail trim, the art of seamanship, accurate navigation including chart plotters and PCs, understanding meteorology, heavy weather preparation, understanding yacht stability and coping with emergencies. The Complete Yachtmaster builds knowledge as it builds sailing confidence, guiding examination candidates as authoritatively and reassuringly through the RYA syllabus as a sea pilot bringing a ship safely to harbour. Required reading for all skippers and budding skippers, both on board or in the classroom. 'A gem, distilled from decades of experience' Yachting Monthly 'Cunliffe's competence and authority radiate from the pages... thoroughly recommended' Little Ship Club 'There are all too few authors who not only know their subject but can write well about it. Tom Cunliffe is one' Cruising
The Fifinella Log tells my true story of sailing around the world in a thirty-foot boat for four-and-a-half years. It describes terrible storms and three hurricanes encountered during the voyage, one of which in the Bay of Plenty off the north coast of New Zealand, damaged our boat Fifinella. During that two-day battle, Fifi lost three foresails, two mainsails, the self-steering vane, reefing pawl, a forestay, and other pieces of equipment, besides broken cupboards, destroyed books, charts, and food stocks. But it was not all like that. Weeks were spent drifting in the doldrums in energy-sapping heat, where you burnt above deck and baked below: where you gritted your teeth to cut off sharp retorts, trying to subjugate your anger and frustration to funnel it into positive action. The good times far outweighed the bad. We experienced the incredible charm of the English south coast, met many wonderful people, and visited exotic places, where we could pick breadfruit, bananas, and coconuts. We traded with islanders and made biltong from horsemeat, and dived and spear-fished our way up the Great Barrier Reef, enjoying the beauty of the Australian coast. Sailing on my own from Darwin to Durban via Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling, Seychelles, and the Comoros gave me time for introspection; I hope I am a better man for it. We had no fancy equipment, no satellite navigation aids. Our radio was basic and our funds minimal. We had a compass and a plastic sextant, navigation tables, charts, and a star chart. The sea is unforgiving and does not tolerate carelessness or mistakes. Be well prepared.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Dutch Naval Air Force--or Marine Luchtvaart Dienst (MLD)--played a significant but largely overlooked role in the opening months of the Pacific War. With 175 aircraft, the MLD greatly outnumbered the combined forces of its American and British allies. In three months of intense combat, the MLD lost 50 percent of its personnel and 80 percent of its aircraft, as the Netherlands' colonial empire was stripped away. This book details MLD operations during the Japanese invasion of Dutch East Indies, giving a comprehensive overview of organization, personnel, aircraft, equipment and tactics. For the first time in English, the failed evacuation of Java is examined.
The setting for No Greater Freedom encompasses South Africa and those East African countries as far up as Kenya. Some of the action takes place in the Comores and the Maldive Islands and parts of Asia. Police investigations are initiated after the discovery that weapons are being stockpiled in various townships in and around Natal. It is suspected that moves are afoot in the Zulu nation to separate from the Republic and create a separate homeland. The savage killing of a police investigator in the Cape Town dock area throws suspicion on an ancient tramping passenger ship, the SS Galatea. Steve Konig, a detective inspector, joins the ship hoping to find evidence that would prove that the ship was being used to deliver the weapons from somewhere further north. Unknown to Steve, another detective, Francis Mackenzie, a very black African, has initiated his own investigation into a poaching racket operating in the game reserve near the Serengeti Plain to the south of Kenya - the two investigations are destined to merge.The story involvesPat Ellis, a minister in the government department of Internal Security, who operates a wide network of corruption. A man with appalling sexual appetites who terrorises his female servants; his beautiful secretary, Julie, who in all innocence becomes involved in his evil plans, and Jake and his crew on the yacht Arcturus who smuggle drugs from Malaysia and Columbia and deliver them to Pat's network operating in the African townships. It involves the crew of the yacht Epicure, Eric, Jason, Beppy and Jane who are lured on board Arcturus, where the men are murdered and the women raped and abused in the foulest manner; and of Jane, who escapes and exacts her vengeance. This is a story in which a beautiful woman gives her life to save the man she loves. It is a story of Zulu aspirations; corruption in high places; cruelty and perversion. It reaches into the depths of depravity and soars into the heights of love and sacrifice. It is a story of Africa. About the Author: Tom Edwards was born in Hampshire, England, where he spent his early years. After completing his education he served for six years in the Fleet Air Arm branch of the Royal Navy. Leaving the service he made his living for several years as an artist before moving to Southern Africa, where he worked as a free-lance news reporter for various newspapers and then as an engineer on various mines in South Africa, Zambia and Namibia, finally settling in what was then Rhodesia. During the Rhodesian conflict he joined the reserve branch of the security forces where he served on border patrol and in the Marine Division. It was there that he acquired much of the material for his first book 'If I Should Die'. The war being lost, depending on which side you were on, he and a friend bought a thirty-foot boat in England and sailed around the world for four years; a trip bedevilled by pirates and hurricanes. They were finally shipwrecked off the coast of New Zealand and had to work there for a year to repair the boat. They carried on to Australia where Tom's partner left him to return home. Tom continued on his own to South Africa and eventually back to Australia where he became an Australian citizen. His latest adventure was to walk from John O'Groats, in the north of Scotland to Land's End in the south of England, a distance of 1440km, which took him forty-six days to complete. Tom has now retired to Lake Macquarie where he enjoys writing, painting and walking. His first two books, "If I Should Die" and "No Greater Freedom" were written under the pseudonym of Tom Hampshire in the hope of preserving his anonymity, however at the insistence of his family his later books, including a factual account of his circumnavigation in a thirty foot boat were under his correct name.
Despite our enduring fascination with Bligh, Christian and the Bounty, few Australians or New Zealanders are aware of the naval mutinies within their national histories. Since 1916 there have been more mutinies in the Royal Australian Navy than in any other navy maintained by an English-speaking nation. New Zealand's navy, by contrast, has suffered only one mutiny, although it was one of the largest to occur in recent naval history. Mutiny! is the first comprehensive study of naval insurrections in these two countries. Drawing on original records, private correspondence, newspaper reports and interviews with men accused of mutiny, it examines when and why such outbreaks occur. By analysing a succession of mutinies it reveals the exceptional conditions that provoked highly disciplined men to challenge authority in such drastic ways. We discover what the men gained and lost by their actions, how the navies dealt with these threats to their internal order, and the controversies created by their resolution. Mutiny! depicts the suffering and torments in body, mind and spirit of men placed in extreme conditions in times of war and peace.
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