My favorite place to be is on salt water, in a sailboat. When that’s not possible, I either write about sailing or seek out stories that take me out to sea. I was first on a sailboat at ten days old, and as a lifelong sailor and Olympian, I speak sailing. So, I really appreciate other authors who write about my passion in a truly knowledgeable voice. I’m so glad I took the time to put this list together because it reminded me of some old favorites I'm going to put back on my TBR list.
I wrote
The Oliver Series: Oliver's Surprise and Cape Cod Surprise
I loved this book because it combined a fast-paced story, historically accurate sailing ships, and a healthy dose of (accurate) maritime history. I’ve read it several times, and I still wish I could pick it up for the very first time and not know what was going to happen next. Best of all, there are six more books that follow this one!
As the War of Independence begins in earnest, American merchant seamen prepare to strike the First blows. None strikes more deftly than Isaac Biddlecomb, captain of the Judea, whose smuggling Activities are making a mockery of His Majesty's Royal Navy. Pursued by HMS Rose, he sacrifices the ship he loved to the depths, together with the fortune he stood to gain, rather than surrender.
On the run from the enraged forces of King George, Isaac disguises himself as a merchant seaman. He is reunited with Ezra Rumstick, a comrade and fierce rebel, as the revolution gathers momentum. On a brig…
I loved this book because it fictionalized a “real” sailboat race around the world: what was then called The Whitbread, rebranded as the Volvo Ocean Race and now known as The Ocean Race.
The characters are true to life and the sailing details are both right and thrilling. I would not want to race around the world (or even across my local waters) with any of them, but their quirks and willingness to push the boundaries make for a rollicking story.
For climbers there is Everest. For sailors there is the Great Circle - a race round the world from Portsmouth, UK, leaving the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn to port.
In the Great Circle, men and women pit their wits against each other - and against the big, cold, violent sea.
Ed, UK, is racing for his reputation. Art, USA, is racing for his job. Tubes, Australia, is racing for the hell of it. Harriet is racing for love. And Emily is racing towards oblivion. For all of them and the rest of the crews, crossing the finish…
Unsettled weather has caused life-threatening rip currents to sprout up seemingly at random in the usually tranquil sea around Grand Cayman. Despite posted warnings to stay out of the surf, several women lose their life when caught in the turbulent waters. Fin attempts some dangerous rescues, and nearly loses her…
I loved the intersection of sailing and history: What was the America’s Cup like in 1936?
The clash of different classes, who all need each other to achieve their own goals, shows how much and how little the professional sailing world has changed since then.
The young Ben Clayton was one of Britain’s brightest boxing prospects, until the day he slammed a left hook into a fragile chin. Sickened by the consequences he turned away from the ring, found solace in the arms of the beautiful Lucy Kirk and looked for new challenges. On the 7th March 1936, after almost two decades of peace in Europe, Hitler ordered the German Army back into the Rhineland. It was a direct challenge to Britain and France. Still unnerved by the toll of the Great War, the politicians dithered. The French Army stayed in its barracks, while the…
I loved the descriptions of the sailors who pioneered a singlehanded, non-stop sailing race around the world—especially as I’m watching the 2024-25 Vendée Globe race.
So much has changed since the 1968 race covered by this book, but the human grit required to meet such an incredible challenge remains.
Published to coincide with the Golden Globe Race's 50th Anniversary
It lay like a gauntlet thrown down; to sail around the world alone and non-stop. No one had ever done it, no one knew if it could be done. In 1968, nine men - six Englishmen, two Frenchmen and an Italian - set out to try, a race born of coincidence of their timing. One didn't even know how to sail. They had more in common with Captain Cook or Ferdinand Magellan than with the high-tech, extreme sailors of today, a mere forty years later.
Unsettled weather has caused life-threatening rip currents to sprout up seemingly at random in the usually tranquil sea around Grand Cayman. Despite posted warnings to stay out of the surf, several women lose their life when caught in the turbulent waters. Fin attempts some dangerous rescues, and nearly loses her…
I read this book as a young teenager and as soon as I finished, I started reading again. I’ve since learned that the best thing we can do as authors is to make readers feel like they are not just reading but actually living the story, and in hindsight that’s why it made such an impression.
I could easily imagine myself sailing around the world, just like this other sailing kid who was only a few years older than me—and who had already achieved a lifelong dream.
3
authors picked
Dove
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
12,
13,
14, and
15.
What is this book about?
In 1965, 16-year-old Robin Lee Graham began a solo around-the-world voyage from San Pedro, California, in a 24-foot sloop. Five years and 33,000 miles later, he returned to home port with a wife and daughter and enough extraordinary experiences to fill this bestselling book, Dove.
TWO young adult fiction classics about Cape Cod coastal history and the Storms of ‘38 and '54 by an Olympic sailing superstar!
The first book has Oliver longing to feel closer to his favorite grandfather; Oliver stumbles back in time to 1938 and must decide what to do before the dangerous hurricane he’d been studying in school hits. In the second book, Oliver returns to Cape Cod aboard his grandfather’s boat, the beloved “Surprise,” as another major hurricane threatens to make landfall. Includes glossary, history of Hurricane Carol, and a short primer on sailing for young people.
