it's the thought, max

Holiday gift shopping can be problematic at times. It seems that I know too many people who “have every¬ thing”. But one resource that has proven very helpful in the last few years, at least when I remember it in time, is the used book when I saw the name of the author, Alfred Loomis. This was a real find — the classic 1936 edition of the first comprehensive book^ ever written on the subject. At least the first good book ever written on the subject, as far as I knew. It had been on my list for a long time; I eagerly reached for the book.

But an instant after my fingers made con¬ tact, the book moved back into the shelf, and then started to slide out the other side. This was a double-sided shelf, and apparently there was another shopper removing the very same book from the other side. I was too dumbfounded to utter a word — and the book slid out of my hands.

“Hey!” I finally said when I recovered from the shock. “I saw that one first!”

As I spoke I stood up on my toes to get a look through the opening in the shelf left by the removed book. The shopper on the other side of the shelf did the same, and what I saw was a one inch by twelve inch vertical slice of a woman’s face. From the dark eye, the thick eyelash, the sun-tanned cheek, and the small glimpse of straight, dark hair I was able to recognize my adversary.

“Max! What on earth are you doing here?

first!”

store.

Of course, the main purpose of a trip to the used book store is to find things for my non-sailing friends — sailors are easy to shop for — but I often end up browsing in the sail¬ ing section anyway, just to see if there’s anything interesting at a bargain price.

Which is exactly what 1 found myself doing the other day, perusing the nautical section of one of the larger used book stores in town. This particular book store, although large, was not very well organized. I had to sift through all the books on arctic exploration, fishing, outdated copies of the Coast Pilot, useless and obsolete navigation tables, and about two-dozen copies of a mediocre book about whaling that I already owned.

But there was a lot here. The shelves were stuffed with books wherever there was an inch of space, some crammed horizontally over other books, some stacked on the floor in odd corners. Judging by the collection of titles, I suspected that the store had recently acquired a relatively intact library of sailing books. It would be good hunting — and I barely gave a thought to the likelihood that it was the death of some old sailor who liked to read that was responsible for the successful shopping trip.

Eventually I located some interesting older books on racing and cruising, on a shelf just above eye level. I was attracted to a faded blue binder with a stylized anchor and a star on it. The title printed on the binder simply read Ocean Racing. My excitement grew

11 was Lee Helm, of course. Lee is a graduate student in the naval architecture i department at the university, and occai sionally I can persuade her to crew for me.

More often, though, she’s out racing on 3 something a good deal more competitive than my aging racer/cruiser, and with a crowd a little more her own age. Running j into her would have been a pleasant I surprise, under normal circumstances. “I’m trying to get some shopping done,” I answered with exaggerated annoyance in my voice, “but everytime 1 reach for a book, it disappears!”

“Sorry about that,” she laughed and started to walk around the stacks to my side to hand the book over. Unfortunately, she had time to look at the cover first.

“Wow!” 1 heard her say through the wall of books. “And it’s even signed.”

When she came into view, the book was tucked under her arm along with about six other volumes.

“So like, how are you doing in the Mid¬ winters, Max?”

(

“Now don’t change the subject on me, Lee. I saw it first.”

“Sorry. I mean, I did pull it down from the shelf before you did, even if 1 didn’t see the title. It’s going to be a present for the skipper of the boat that I sail the ocean series on.”

Even though I knew for a fact that 1 had actually touched the book first, I had to con¬ cede when faced with her self-righteous generosity.

“Okay, you win,” I said. “Having much luck here today?”

“Lots of good stuff, Max. Look at this one

— Uffa Fox, Sailing, Seamanship, and Small Boat Handling, 1934. Only fifteen dollars!”

“Who’s that one for?” I asked.

“This one goes in my own technical library. I already have all the other Uffa Fox books, but this one is hard to find. And here’s another classic, Yacht Racing: the

Aerodynamics of Sails, by Manfred Curry. This is the original 1927 edition, and the price is right.”

“Looks like I should have been here an hour ago,” I mumbled.

“For sure,” she remarked. “But there’s still lots of good material here, Max. Look at this one: Enterprise, by Harold S. Vanderbilt, 1930. It’s all about the cup defender

Enterprise.”

She took a heavy, dark blue book off the shelf and put it in my hands.

What on earth are you doing here?”

K ' . ;y .:

“Beautiful book,” she said. “Great photos, even fold-out line drawing of the boat. But it’s 45 dineros! No way for a starving grad student like me.”

It was a truly impressive work, document¬ ing every aspect of the design, construction, and campaigning of the J-class America’s Cup defender Enterprise, a yacht which was amazingly high-tech for its day. I asked Lee what else she had come up with as 1 carefully

returned the Vanderbilt book to the shelf.

“Here’s a 1947 edition of The Amateur Seaman, by H.S. Smith. This one’s pretty easy to find, actually — and only $3.50. It was first written in the thirties, and has a fabulous description of what you have to go through to maintain a conventional plankon-frame wood sailing yacht.”

“Why are you buying it?” I asked.

“A friend of mine is getting serious about buying an old Rhodes yawl that, like, needs some work. This is a present for her. One look at that chapter on annual spring outfit¬ ting and I think she’ll come back to earth fast!”

“Don’t be so sure,” I warned. “When they catch the bug, they catch it bad. Especially for old wood boats. Sometimes an old book or two only aggravates the symptoms — I’ve seen it become terminal!”

“That’s why I’m also buying her this little gem,” she said as she held up a very small

book entitled How to Abandon Ship. “Of course I won’t give it to her ’til her birthday, after she’s owned the boat for a while.”

“Let me see that,” I said as she handed me the book for inspection.

It was published by Cornell Maritime Press in 1943, and packed full of practical advice and useful tips for the crew of a merchant ship that has just been torpedoed. It was fascinating — among the photos of T-2 tankers and Liberty ships serenely sliding beneath the waves, there was one anecdote after another relating how sailors who fol¬ lowed the book’s advice always escaped unhurt. It sold for one dollar in ’43, the bookstore wanted $2.00 today.

“I’ve got to get a copy of this, Lee. There’s omeone I know who needs to get this book

Real treasures can be found in the ‘used’ sections of your local bookstore. All it takes is some looking.

for Christmas.”

“I saw it first,” she grinned.

“Didn’t you leave anything for the next shopper?”

“F

1 or sure! Look over here t>n this side.” She led me around to the other side of the bank of shelves, and crouched down to reach one shelf that was near floor level. “What I like about a store like this,” she explained as she started pulling out books and passing them up to me, is that they’re not organized enough to really know what they have.”

I barely had time to look at the titles of the books that were practically thrown at me:

The $30,000,000 Cup, Around the World Singlehanded; The Compleat Cruiser; Offshore . . .

“The more reputable used book stores,” she continued, “seem to recognize the value of most of these old books, so you have to pay for them like, trans-nasally. The up-scale stores also have much heavier custom traffic, so the good books don’t last as long on the shelves. But a big old mess like this, as long as you don't mind wading through tons of junk, is where you always find the great books.”

A cloud of dust rose up from the shelf, and I struggled to suppress a sneeze.

“That book, The $30,000,000 Cup, is by Jerome Brooks, published in 1958 to coin¬ cide with the revival in 12-meters. I still think it’s the best early history of the Cup around, and you can find it easily for around $10.00. But Around the World, by Harry Pidgeon in 1928, is a real classic. Probably worth $20 or $30 at least, but they only want five. Com¬ pleat Cruiser is $20, maybe because somebody actually recognized the name Herreshoff when they priced it. Still a good buy, Max, but I’m sure you already have it. Offshore, by Illingworth, is one of the first of the techno-coffee-table genre. Obsolete, but a good deal at $15 if you’re into the history of midget ocean racing, especially in Europe.”

“A couple of these will take care of some names on my shopping list,” I said. “And it turns out I don’t have Compleat Cruiser — that one’s for me.”

We moved a few shelves up, and Lee continued her running commentary.

“Here’s a book that I’ve given to a few of my friends when they first started sailing: Tinkerbelle, by Robert Manry, about his 1965 Atlantic crossing in a 13V2-foot converted daysailer.”

I admitted having read the book over 20 years ago.

“What makes it great for beginners,” ex¬ plained Lee, “is that they can identify with this guy. I mean, he starts the trip with about the same level of experience as a graduate of two basic sailing courses, and the boat is about the same dimensions as a Lido 14!”

“Here’s a recent issue of Chapman’s,” I said as I pointed to a big volume of Piloting, Seamanship, and Small Boat Handling. “That’s always a good present for a budding sailor.”

“Yeah, I guess,” she agreed apathetically, “but like, Chapman’s has been going down hill since about 1960, when Chapman himself finally gave up .doing the revisions. I don’t know when the first edition came out, but I have one published in 1922.”

Then Lee spotted a book that got her much more excited.

“Now there’s a good read. Bernard Moitessier, The First Voyage ofthe Joshua. I hate to think how many people have sailed off to the South Seas because of that book.”

“Or because of this one,” I said as 1 pointed to a re-issue of Joshua Slocum’s Sailing Alone Around the World, originally published in 1900.

“It belongs in every collection,” Lee | agreed, “but'for reading material I think it only has novelty value. Slocum was writing installments for a magazine as he sailed, and some of his singlehanded adventures are

| more than a little bit exaggerated, if you jj know what 1 mean.”

Lee scanned another shelf for another ; “find”.

j “Here we go, Max! The Ashley Book of

Knots. 1 know the jacket looks dorkey, but it j really is encyclopedic and authoritative.”

Meanwhile, 1 had spotted another perfect stocking stuffer.

“How about Rigg’s Handbook of Nautical Etiquette? The perfect gift for the new boatowner.”

I noticed Lee glance at her watch.

“I’ve been here much too long, Max,” she h said as she started to open her backpack. “1 ; really should be home studying for finals.”

She then proceeded to take several small u blue pamphlets out of her backpack and i discretely slide them into the shelves, <; between some “How to Sail” books. I : noticed that they had reduced local charts on : 'the cover, and were titled Junior Skipper Handbook, with a price of one dollar. The one dollar had been crossed out, and “25 cents” written alongside.

“What on earth are you doing?”

“These are handbooks for new members

at the university sailing club I belong to,” she explained. “They desciibe our basic instruc¬ tional program, and also how the sailing club works in general.”

“But why are you sneaking them into the store like this? Why, this is shoplifting in reverse!”

“Underground PR,” she whispered. “Peo¬ ple who want to get into sailing cheap come here to find a bargain book about it. They see the handbook, find out about the club, see that it’s open to the public, and join!”

“If you say so,”11 responded in partial disbelief.

“Never fails. Anyway, gotta go. See you next Mid-winter race weekend.”

She made one more quick visual sweep of the stacks of books, and pulled down The

Folding Schooner, Moxie, and The Grand Gesture, adding them to my pile. Then she was off to the cash register.

I browsed through some more of the older books for a while, finding a 1934 book on the racing rules for $4.50. “The perfect gift for the rules fanatic,” I thought to myself.

But as soon as Lee was safely out of the store, I went back to where I had left Enter¬ prise and removed it from the shelf. I men¬ tally checked Lee Helm off my shopping list, thereby solving the biggest problem of this year’s holiday shopping season. — max ebb

DID YOU LEARN TO SAIL ON THIS BOAT?

BALLENGER SPAR SYSTEMS

There is a good chance you did. Over the last 25 years, more than 10,000 people have been introduced to sailing on the Cal Sailing Club’s Lido 14’s. Most of the old Lido’s have finally been replaced — but we still need your support!

If you are considering selling your boat, you are probably aware of the advantages of donating to a non-profit organization.

The CAL SAILING CLUB is a public sailing cooperative, and is tax exempt under IRC section 501-C(3). It is independent from other organizations and has no paid staff — so the value of your dona¬ tion will be used exclusively to help support our very low cost public sailing program. For More Information about Donating Boats, Call Paul Kamen at (415) 540-7968 For More information about the Cal Sailing Club, Call (415) 527-SAIL