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The Best Sailing Stories Ever Told
- Narrated by: Mark Ashby
- Length: 21 hrs and 52 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure
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Sailing, Yachts and Yarns is a selection of Tom Cunliffe’s funniest, wisest and most thought-provoking writing from the pages of Yachting Monthly. Tom’s love of language and sense of humour shine through as he recalls the wealth of sinners and saints he has met on docksides from Southampton to South America, Greenwich to Greenland and Newtown to New York. He has a gift for capturing the magic of sail and finding pearls of practical wisdom in the most unlikely nautical adventures.
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Not that interesting
- By Slowhand on 10-10-20
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After sailing 300,000 miles and weathering dozens of storms in all the world's oceans, John Kretschmer has plenty of stories and advice to share. John's offshore training passages sell out a year in advance, and his entertaining presentations are popular at boat shows and yacht clubs all over the English-speaking world. John's talent for storytelling enchants his audience as it soaks up the lessons he learned during his often challenging voyages. Now you can take a seat next to John - at a lesser cost - and get the knowledge you need to fulfill your own dream of blue-water adventure.
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Great book but poor orator
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Challenged by an expert who said it couldn’t be done, Joshua Slocum, a fearless New England sea captain, set out in April 1895 to prove that a man could sail alone around the world. A little over three years and forty-six thousand miles later, the proof was complete. This is Slocum’s own account of his remarkable adventures during the historic voyage of the Spray.
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Brilliant!
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John Kretschmer is sailing’s practical philosopher - as much a doer as a thinker. And that is the overarching theme of this chronicle of a sailing life. Often amusing, sometimes poignant, occasionally terrifying but always inspiring, his deeply personal account is a welcome reminder of the good life waiting at sea. With hundreds of thousands of nautical miles under his keel, John’s adventures have taken him several times around the world.
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Enjoyable book
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Veteran sailor and writer Christian Williams invites us along once again on a 5,000-mile voyage of discovery around the North Pacific. Equipped with a new boat, a well-stocked toolbox, and the entire history of philosophic thought, he takes us as crew through squalls and calms deep into a laboratory of the universe that exists only out of sight of land. Funny, erudite, and at times deeply personal, Philosophy of Sailing explores who we are and how encounters with the unknown can be a path to revelation and joy.
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Loved this book of sailing musings
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Tales of adventures on the high seas captivate both sailors and those who stand on the shore and gaze out across the oceans. In this original collection of sea stories, edited by veteran writer Dick Durham, the gamut of human experience is mirrored in a world of tragic shipwrecks and sea monsters, epic races and brave rescues, tall ships and tiny dinghies.
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Gripping!
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Sailing, Yachts and Yarns
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Performance
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Sailing, Yachts and Yarns is a selection of Tom Cunliffe’s funniest, wisest and most thought-provoking writing from the pages of Yachting Monthly. Tom’s love of language and sense of humour shine through as he recalls the wealth of sinners and saints he has met on docksides from Southampton to South America, Greenwich to Greenland and Newtown to New York. He has a gift for capturing the magic of sail and finding pearls of practical wisdom in the most unlikely nautical adventures.
-
-
Not that interesting
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-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After sailing 300,000 miles and weathering dozens of storms in all the world's oceans, John Kretschmer has plenty of stories and advice to share. John's offshore training passages sell out a year in advance, and his entertaining presentations are popular at boat shows and yacht clubs all over the English-speaking world. John's talent for storytelling enchants his audience as it soaks up the lessons he learned during his often challenging voyages. Now you can take a seat next to John - at a lesser cost - and get the knowledge you need to fulfill your own dream of blue-water adventure.
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Great book but poor orator
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Overall
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Challenged by an expert who said it couldn’t be done, Joshua Slocum, a fearless New England sea captain, set out in April 1895 to prove that a man could sail alone around the world. A little over three years and forty-six thousand miles later, the proof was complete. This is Slocum’s own account of his remarkable adventures during the historic voyage of the Spray.
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John Kretschmer is sailing’s practical philosopher - as much a doer as a thinker. And that is the overarching theme of this chronicle of a sailing life. Often amusing, sometimes poignant, occasionally terrifying but always inspiring, his deeply personal account is a welcome reminder of the good life waiting at sea. With hundreds of thousands of nautical miles under his keel, John’s adventures have taken him several times around the world.
-
-
Enjoyable book
- By Charlie on 30-01-21
-
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- By: Christian Williams
- Narrated by: Christian Williams
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Veteran sailor and writer Christian Williams invites us along once again on a 5,000-mile voyage of discovery around the North Pacific. Equipped with a new boat, a well-stocked toolbox, and the entire history of philosophic thought, he takes us as crew through squalls and calms deep into a laboratory of the universe that exists only out of sight of land. Funny, erudite, and at times deeply personal, Philosophy of Sailing explores who we are and how encounters with the unknown can be a path to revelation and joy.
-
-
Loved this book of sailing musings
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Tales of adventures on the high seas captivate both sailors and those who stand on the shore and gaze out across the oceans. In this original collection of sea stories, edited by veteran writer Dick Durham, the gamut of human experience is mirrored in a world of tragic shipwrecks and sea monsters, epic races and brave rescues, tall ships and tiny dinghies.
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Thank you Christian
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Edmund Hillary - A Biography is the story of the New Zealand beekeeper who climbed Mount Everest. A man, who against expedition orders, drove his tractor to the South Pole; a man honored around the world for his pioneering climbs, yet who collapsed on more than one occasion on a mountain, and a man who gave so much to Nepal yet lost his family to its mountains.
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fantastic book well worth the money
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In Some Lost Place: The First Ascent of Nanga Parbat’s Mazeno Ridge
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- Unabridged
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In the summer of 2012, a team of six climbers set out to attempt the first ascent of one of the great unclimbed lines of the Himalaya - the giant Mazeno Ridge on Nanga Parbat, the world's ninth highest mountain. At 10 kilometers in length, the Mazeno is the longest route to the summit of an 8,000-meter peak. Ten expeditions had tried and failed to climb this enormous ridge.
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Magnificent achievement - odd choice of reader
- By Marbo on 30-08-20
Editor reviews
Award-winning narrator Mark Ashby flexes his skills in this collection of short stories linked together by the theme of sailing. Ashby's natural, measured cadence and nuanced characterization will make listeners feel as though they are sitting around a fire as a master storyteller holds them rapt with his words. The authors in this collection include such greats as Charles Dickens, Jack London, and Herman Melville, and Ashby provides each story with its own voice - from the cynical terseness of "Dead Reckoning" to the dramatic intonations of "Book XII of Homer's Odyssey".
As Ashby brings each story to a satisfying close, listeners will continue to want more.
Summary
For thousands of years, we have set out sailing for all kinds of reasons - for battle, for infinite wealth, for the excitement of exploring the unknown, and for escape from the mundane. We have always had a primal relationship with the sea - even those who have never been to sea remain fascinated by the seafaring life and tales of salty adventure. Now in a brand–new series collection, The Best Sailing Stories Ever Told brings together such diverse authors as Charles Dickens, Jack London, John Masefield, Stephen Crane, Herman Melville, and dozens more. Many of the writers featured here are instantly recognizable and have achieved deserved fame; others who are lesser known and rarely featured in collections take their rightful place on the shelves of sailing literature.
Lovers of the open water will certainly get their fill with this shimmering sample of sea tales that range from the ancient epic and biblical to contemporary. Whether you’re itching for a sailor’s peaceful life at sea, his epic conquest of the azure blue, or his own private descent into madness, this collection touches on the many aspects of life at sea. Even if you are enjoying The Best Sailing Stories Ever Told from the warm, dry comfort of your own living room, you are sure to be inspired by the colorful and stirring stories in this timeless collection.
What listeners say about The Best Sailing Stories Ever Told
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Paul Mulvany
- 23-01-17
Tiresome
I am very interested in tales of the sea but I found this book to be tiresome and dull but this is just my own opinion and others may find merit in some of the stories
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- J. Glemby
- 27-10-13
20hours of great fun....
Im not sure who gave this audiobook such a low rating,I must asume it was a error for so much high seas adventure and the best classic adventure at that.......very well told and all stories tracked perfectly,only a fool would dislike this...have fun with this one fellow audiobook travelers...
19 people found this helpful
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- harbormaster85
- 27-01-20
Couldn't finish this
The stories are rather short and pointless. They make little sense and are just dreary to listen to at all. I tried to get thru it all but could only get thru about 5 hours of it.
1 person found this helpful
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- Nelson Pidgeon
- 19-10-18
Don't bother.
I'm only about half way through so it could get better but I highly doubt it. These stories are mostly boring and in no way "the best sailing stories ever told" I found myself yelling at the narrator numerous times to get on with it. There were a couple that I could tolerate but overall these stories had a hard time holding my attention. Maybe if you're on a long voyage and all of your other mean's of entertainment are no longer available, maybe then these stories might have a degree of entertainment value.
3 people found this helpful