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I ran into this book after I saw a reference to it online. Seemed like a joke at the time,
until I read it. Actually, it's perfectly serious and the title is completely accurate
when it gets down to reading the book. it's a
serious piece of work for the small boat operator - especially those taking their boats into
areas where large ships pass through.
This book was "written by an old captain who was tired of running over fools in their pleasure
boats, and wanted to educate those same fools in a futile effort to save their lives". Very
apt description. As a more
or less novice to boating, it never really ocurred to me that (make that "I never thought
about it") most small pleasure boats that go a reasonable distance offshore are actually
far slower than large merchant
ships and thus can get overtaken and rundown quite easily. And large merchant ships might
not even notice. Bigger Like the cargo ship that turned up in Yokohama with a yacht mast
tucked under the anchor
at the bow. Never did identify the yacht. Makes you think a bit doesn't it.
So the author very kindly wrote a complete book about how not to get run down. I found
it very informative and if I ever do get far enough offshore that I'm getting into commercial
shipping lanes, I'll be studying
this book a lot more seriously. The writer's tone comes across as more than a bit cynical,
as well as perhaps unintentionally humorous - or maybe just a very dry sense of humor,
whatever. On the other hand,
the book's written with a serious objective in mind - informing the ignorant small boat
operator - and it does that very well indeed.
Well worth the read if you're an offshore boater. Even if you're not, it's a very interesting
read - you will certainly realize some of the limitations large ships operate under
and take good care to keep well away
from them in future, even if you live in the Mid-West!