Pacific Islands

Sea Wanderers to Australia – Martin

Published by Macmillan, Sydney a first edition 1977. Octavo, 192 pages with endpaper maps and nicely illustrated. A very good if not fine copy.

Norman Martin’s car hire business got into difficulty as UK Governments changed the rules. This was partly the stimulus that drove him and wife Sheila to give it all up in 1970 and spend five years at sea in their 42 foot ketch “Shebessa”.

And what an adventure. Circumnavigating west to the Caribbean through Panama to the Galapagos, on to the Marquesas, the Tuamato Group, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji then down to Australia landing at Byron. Down to Sydney and Melbourne before sailing for Lord Howe Island and on up to New Caledonia, Santa Cruz, Cheery Islands. Through the Solomon Islands to Rabaul and on to Madang before turning back to Cairns and on through the Torres Straits and the long sail to the Maldives. The voyage continues with equal intensity.

Martins in the Shebessa a full voyage every beauty spot visited.

$25.00

Updating cart…

Sails Full and By – Dom Degnon

Published by Sheridan House, Dobbs Ferry a first edition 1995. Octavo, 244 pages illustrated. Very good near fine condition.

A seven-year circumnavigation in the 41 foot ketch “Taku”. With so much time they need a full crew of friends and family who come and go during the “voyage”. With more time than some they have more time for the exotic .. and in the Pacific Ahe, Tahiti, Samoa, Sunwarrow, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand. Then off to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea and then difficulties with the boat and they just made it to Australia’s Lizard island. And then more ….

A long time around the world an unusual narrative

$25.00

Updating cart…

Cutting Loose – James Lipscomb

Published by Angus and Robertson in 1975 having been published by Little, Brown in the USA the year before. Octavo, 304 pages plus diagrams of the boat and endpaper maps of the voyage. Very good condition.

This book by James Lipscomb is unusual .. five young men sail the “Four Winds” from San Pedro south to Costa Rica and then across the Pacific and on up to Singapore. His son John is the leader of the group … difficulties arise including personality issues and illness. Written in “diary fashion” it makes for interesting reading.

Cutting Loose – more than a voyage

$25.00

Updating cart…

Starbound (Circumnavigation) – Gordan and Nina Stuermer – 1977

Published by David McKay, New York a first edition 1977. Large octavo, 330 pages with numerous photographic illustrations taken on their voyage. Very good condition.

Gordan and Nina Stuermer decided to give up a “normal” life to sail on the square-sail ketch “Starbound”. The circumnavigated the globe in two and a half years with their teenage son. But not after living on and growing accustomed to the vessel for seven years.

They set of around the world from Annapolis, Maryland in October 1973 … down the Chesapeake Bay and off to Bermuda. Some tips on how to deal with the Panama Canal (should you be lucking enough to need them) and then into the Pacific and the beautiful island nations. Tips on the inside of the Great Barrier Reef and arriving at Dili just in time for a revolution. And further remarkable adventures ensue. Useful appendices for those with ambitious plans including the preserving of meat and other produce onboard.

Circumnavigating … a comprehensive account

$30.00

Updating cart…

By Way of the Wind – Jim Moore

A first edition published by Sheridan House, Dobbs Ferry, New York in 1991. Octavo, 215 pages, illustrated with the authors photographs and with endpaper maps. Very good if not fine condition

Jim Moore and his partner Molly gave up a normal life in Portland Oregon to build their dream boat a 36 foot fibreglass Cascade Sloop to be named Swan. It took them four year to get it all shipshape.

They set off in 1977 across to Hawaii, Christmas Island, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Lord Howe island, New Zealand and then on to Sydney. It was 1989 by the time they sailed round Cape York and on to their second Christmas Island before Mauritius, Cape Town St Helena and up to the West Indies and a stop off in Tampa. Back through the Panama and back to Hawaii and on home.

Entertaining circumnavigation .. including getting stuck on the Mooloolaba sand bar!

$30.00

Updating cart…

Tai Ki – To the Point of No Return – Kuno Knoble

Published by Little, Brown Boston a first English language edition 1976. Translated by Rita and Robert Kimber from the first German edition the year before. large octavo, 276 pages with many colour photographic illustrations, endpaper maps etc. Chips to top and bottom of dust jacket spine, otherwise a pretty good copy , very clean internally.

Could an ancient Chinese junk have sailed to America? In 1974 Kuno Knobl and seven others built and launched the Tai Ki and set sail across the Pacific.

They didn’t make it all the way as they were beset by a series of difficulties … it was “worm” that caused the most havoc .. with the crew eventually spending nearly all their time plugging holes created by the little devils. A final typhoon crippled the vessel.

Luckily they were rescued by the container-ship Washington Mail and the Tai Kai was abandoned 40 degrees north and south of Alaska.

Tai Ki … almost there but for the worms

$25.00

Updating cart…

Sea Wanderers to Australia – Martin

Sails Full and By – Dom Degnon

Cutting Loose – James Lipscomb

Starbound (Circumnavigation) – Gordan and Nina Stuermer – 1977

By Way of the Wind – Jim Moore

Tai Ki – To the Point of No Return – Kuno Knoble

Product Categories