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Rating: 
Summary: Great reference document
Review: A great way to finally understand the in's and out's of the various sails and sail plans available and their use in various weather conditions. A great read and an easy way to gain some knowledge on a lot of the options available in many kinds of weather and sea states. Fits in nicely as a companion book for "Mariners Weather Handbook" The multitude of first person accounts and expert opinions make the options outlined in the book very beleivable. I'm a costal sailor but feel sure I will be able to use and apply a lot of the ideas that I picked up from reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great to learn from others
Review: An encyclopaedic covering of various tactics for surviving storms at sea, the dashews succinct writing and cogent organisation drives this hefty book forward. while powerboats are nominally covered, this book is more squarely aimed at the community of ocean going sailboats. Anyone sailing into deep blue water should read this book. A few notes: 1. the conclusions are mature: there is no single right answer, but the best strategy is to experiment with all the tactics in moderately heavy seas before you eventually get caught out in the big one. 2. active strategies (beating in and running off) shine a little brighter under the dashews' light than heaving to or sea anchors/drogues; fair enough. 3. consequently there is a nice treatment of heavy weather sails 4. the book is full of instructive black & white photos that make one sufficiently happy to be drinking tea at home. 5. numerous interviews with salty sailors make for instructive case studies, though several times key details (size of boat, location, crew experience, etc.) are left out. 6. the only weakness is that its numerous interviews and articles largely focus on experienced sailors who have been doing everything right for so long that it's difficult to get them to remember the episodes that taught them. The book is quite thin on disaster stories -which are frequently the most instructive -- and instead spends a lot of time interviewing 100,000 milers who can't remember the last time they were scared. Thus `surviving the storm' tells you merely how to do everything right, not how to avoid doing the wrong things... for those many of us who find the fear of failing (or drowning) particularly motivating from an instructional standpoint, this is a lacuna in an otherwise fine book. Two other sailing books, "MayDay!" and Coote's "Total Loss" admirably fill this gap, but if the dashew's had hit this final nail on the head I'd petition amazon for a 6-star review. At the end of the day, it's a must-read. Rock on steve and Linda, I've got dockage in fort Lauderdale if you ever want to visit.
Rating:
Summary: Great to learn from others
Review: An encyclopaedic covering of various tactics for surviving storms at sea, the dashews succinct writing and cogent organisation drives this hefty book forward. while powerboats are nominally covered, this book is more squarely aimed at the community of ocean going sailboats. Anyone sailing into deep blue water should read this book. A few notes: 1.the conclusions are mature: there is no single right answer, but the best strategy is to experiment with all the tactics in moderately heavy seas before you eventually get caught out in the big one. 2.active strategies (beating in and running off) shine a little brighter under the dashews' light than heaving to or sea anchors/drogues; fair enough. 3.consequently there is a nice treatment of heavy weather sails 4.the book is full of instructive black & white photos that make one sufficiently happy to be drinking tea at home. 5.numerous interviews with salty sailors make for instructive case studies, though several times key details (size of boat, location, crew experience, etc.) are left out. 6.the only weakness is that its numerous interviews and articles largely focus on experienced sailors who have been doing everything right for so long that it's difficult to get them to remember the episodes that taught them. The book is quite thin on disaster stories -which are frequently the most instructive -- and instead spends a lot of time interviewing 100,000 milers who can't remember the last time they were scared. Thus 'surviving the storm' tells you merely how to do everything right, not how to avoid doing the wrong things... for those many of us who find the fear of failing (or drowning) particularly motivating from an instructional standpoint, this is a lacuna in an otherwise fine book. Two other sailing books, "MayDay!" and Coote's "Total Loss" admirably fill this gap, but if the dashew's had hit this final nail on the head I'd petition amazon for a 6-star review. At the end of the day, it's a must-read. Rock on steve and Linda, I've got dockage in fort Lauderdale if you ever want to visit.
Rating:
Summary: The One Book You Should Own
Review: If there is one book you should study before heading to sea it is the Dashew's Surviving the Storm. Rather than taking a dogmatic approach to storm tactics, they cover every imaginable tactic, and how it is used in a variety of boats and conditions. The book starts with a thorough analysis of the problems encountered by a variety of boats heading between the islands and new Zealand in 1998. There are some sad stories as well as successes - we learn from both. They go on to make an elaborate explanation of preparation and equipment, anmd then cover tactics in detail. The Dashew's repeat over and over that there is no magic bullet to heavy weather. You havew to be prepared to use ansd try different tactics as conditions change. What we liked most was the intervioew format used extensively throughout the book. There must be 70 or more of them. Half of these are with professionals and their comments are very informative. The interviews with amateurs are also worth reading. Some did things the right way, others made mistakes, from which we can all learn. This book has received great press and while I was at first skeptical of the price and the reviews, having read the book now I can say it is the best investment I have yet made in my plans to go cruising.
Rating:
Summary: Fact not fiction!
Review: With the advent of popular movies about horrific storms at sea that deal more in fiction than fact it is both refreshing and gratifying to read a book written for us ocean voyagers from someone who has actually lived it!. There are few sailors and even fewer authors that have the experience and dedication of the Dashews. In Surviving the Storm they combine their extensive experience at sea (over 200,000 miles cruising offshore) and their background in boat design and building (perhaps some of the finest sailing boats made) with other experts to separate the hype and fiction from the facts. After reading this book I had a totally different outlook on most of the major storms we've all heard about and more importantly how to prepare and deal with heavy weather when and if I get caught in it. As with all of the Dashews' books I've read, Surviving The Storm is written in an easy to read, conversational style with lots of real-world examples and there are plenty of illustrations and photographs to help you see what is going on. No detail is left out - I found this book to be an extensive, in-depth reference of the hows and whys of storm tactics and survival. At just shy of 700 pages it contains a ton of information. I especially like the summaries and numerous side-bar references - they really help. If sailing is your passion as it is mine I'd suggest a few other Dashew titles as well. Mariner's Weather Handbook is a great companion to this book and covers every aspect of weather for the sailor. Let's face it - it is better to stay ahead of nasty weather than get caught in it! The book that turned me on to the Dashews was their massive reference: Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia - it saved me from wasting thousands of dollars and an equal amount of time readying my boat for offshore. It is an incredible book covering everything a cruiser needs to know BEFORE going offshore. I've read (and studied, over and over again) these 3 books and I hardly recommend them to anyone who likes sailing - it is money very well spent!
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