How to Sail Around the World : Advice and Ideas for Voyaging Under Sail

This is a great book about sailing and all the details involved. I know nothing about sailing, I am really enjoying it and would recommend it. However, the recommendation comes with some qualifications. Part of the reason I purchased the book was the comment in the description about "... how to buy a small sailing yacht at a modest price ..." The price is between $60,000 and $120,000 for the yacht (plus at least $8000 when you need to haul it out of the water for hull repairs (you can't use a truck and trailer, it has to be a crane or on some rails), $2000 in charts, $13,500 in other parts and labor, etc). This is not modest to me. This book is for rich people. So, if you are looking for someone to teach you how to sail cheaply, turn to Fatty Goodlander. Also, this book is like drinking from a fire hose of nautical terms. I love it, but do not understand about half of what is said. Near the beginning of Chapter 8 it says, "What's needed here is a multiple purchase with blocks or a simple barrel winch (with a line jammer above it to hold one halyard while you use the winch for the next)." Awesome! That is exactly what I will do next time! Hal actually does a good job describing everything. There are just a lot of new terms. A halyard is a rope, right? Is the winch really as big as a barrel? Ha! Just kidding! Happy arm chair sailing everyone!

I found the book to be very informative. It wasn't ideally what I was looking for but I accept that is an error on my part rather than on the writers. I am a novice to sailing and wanted to see how feasible the dream of sailing around the world, or at vey least to far away destinations with blue water passages, would be. But I found the book to be too technical in places for my level of understanding but would suit a more experienced seaman extremely well. I would have liked a few more more diagrams or at least an indexed section to explain some of the terms or more technical aspects a little more thoroughly especially in the sections where the writer falls off track and starts to offer what could be useful advice if I understood what he was on about. As I believe this is more down to my knowledge than the book I have still given it a strong 4.

This book covers (almost) everything. The title is somewhat misleading as it would be a valuable book for any sailor who wants to do the occasional overnight passage - not just circumnavigators. It covers topics at extreme length and detail but the writing style and the inclusion of numerous tales makes it an interesting read.If I had to make a criticism it would be that the views are a little out of date. Like most books on long distance sailing, Roth believes in keeping things simple. If he doesn't use it, it's not in the book, so there's almost nothing about onboard electronics, refrigeration, water makers, generators, LED navigation lights, SSB, Satellite phones, Internet at sea etc. This is fair enough as he's speaking from his own experience, but it stops the books becoming the authoritative bible on the topic.He goes to great length about every type of boat construction and rig (which is really interesting), but a glaring omission is any real reference to multihulls.Nevertheless it is the most comprehensive book I have read on the topic.

I have read many sailing books as it is my ambition to cross oceans and see the world.I got turned on to Hal Roth because he sailed a Spencer 35, which is the smaller version of the Spencer 42 I currently own.In this book I found so much great and truly valuable information, more so than in any other book I have read in talking about the construction, rigging and handling of boats.Hal Roth was a master of the sea!This book was the meat and potatoes of his life's work and was very well done!

Nor what I wanted. In a book that's titled "How to Sail" I'd hoped for more actual sailing information and less equipment information. Not to say that some equipment information wouldn't be helpful, but I don't need lessons in the different methods used to build sailboats. Way too much information of that nature was provided, information that I already had because I've bought books on building, maintaining and repairing boats. Those books were true to their titles. I expected a lot more information on reefing, heaving to, sea anchors and usage, navigation and such. While some information is provided in those areas, too much of the book is spent on things that I didn't want, need or expect to be in a book that was supposed to be on how to sail around the world and voyaging. To me this book was a waste of money due to the lack of information in line with it's title that was actually supplied. From now on I'll stick to Hiscock and others like him.

It's a good book. The drawback is for novices to sailing because the book uses nautical terms that a novice will not know. The first half of the book is spent identifying every type of sailboat and every type of sail which is outside the scope of learning "How to Sail Around the World" and is very dry material. The last half of the book is the best part and deals with provisioning a salboat for a journey, customs at various ports and is more how to than the first half. The book is worth it simply for the resources it contains to various websites and equipment manufacturers and will no doubt save people alot of money and greif.

I have the author's earlier book , " After 50,000 Miles " . Much of style and some of the information is the same . But most chapters has been updated and rearranged . If you have read his previous books , then this the same . Conservative and levelheaded with regards changing systems , just for doing so . I am sorry that we never met . I would like to of shaken his hand . Told him of all the gadgits that I did not buy . And lastly , how much fun siling is . Recomended by Lee.

This book features widely in the recommended reading lists of texts written by other sailing experts, because the author not only knows his subject inside out, based in multiple circumnavigations, but is able to transfer his knowledge and common sense in a really engaging way. By the end of the book you will be armed with a wealth of advice, and warmed by Hall Roth's avuncular style. A deserved classic.

I would recommend this book to anybody interested in sailing with a goal on cruising for extended periods or extended distances specially if you have little experience and lots of questions in your head about how to do it. I must admit that in a few occasions the reading got a bit dry and too technical however I mostly read the book cover to back cover in a few days (very engaging). The book has peaked my interest a few more specialized subjects that the book covered in shallow details (as expected to cover all of the subjects it covered). The book does not have illustrations to explain the sometimes technical discussions, this would have greatly improved the easy understanding of the explanations been made. Overall excellent value for the price paid.

Hal Roth was a master seaman. In this book, he has condensed years of wisdom and technique in his book on Voyaging under Sail. His prose is clear and reduced to essentials; he has carefully considered many of his techniques and the text explains and reads almost like step by step procedures while being a joy to read. The book may be co-titled 'how to sail around the world' but Hal Roth's wisdom and methods will apply to any coastal sail. Highly recommended.

This book is for anyone seriously contemplating long distance offshore cruising. The facts presented in the book are essential knowledge and they are derived from multiple experiences from many sailors, not just one persons opinion. With that said: the highlight of the book is the way a broad based, multiple sailors, experiential based set of facts is presented. Unfortunately, this is also the largest weakness of the book because the presentation of those facts, figures, surveys etcetera often makes for droll and dry reading. In the end however, the information presented is invaluable and well worth the sometimes struggle to get through the reading of it. It would be a 5 star book if the author had been able to get just a little more excitement and love of the cruising lifestyle into his prose.

This book contains just about every bit of information you'll need if you've been thinking about sailing around the world, or just making ocean passages. The Storm Management chapters were especially useful for me, because that's the part of sailing the ocean that is the most worrisome. Roth puts it all in perspective and writes with an easy-to-read style as if we were sitting down with him for a chat--and it's all from his own experiences. I would definitely recommend this book.