Feb 10 2010

Book Review – Storm Tactics by Lin and Larry Pardey

Published by at 17:28 under Capt. Dan,safety,safety at sea,Sailing

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I’ve been reading about this book ever since I started sailing in the Pacific. It is sine qua non on the subject. Well, that’s what we’re lead to believe.

In fact, it’s only pretty good. It probably started as a pamphlet, maybe just an article and has grown to a pretty fat book. The information is excellent, but the organization and editing make this a cumbersome read.

Here’s the plot: people die in bad weather. People die needlessly. If only they had the secret to survival … the ancient secret that everyone has abandoned … except Lin and Larry. The Pardeys survived some very bad weather: back and forth around Cape Horn and practice runs in all sorts of places that are just too wild, cold and miserable for anybody but Vikings. They site a couple, make that a couple of dozen … actually probably a hundred instances of true believers, believers in the ancient rite and practice of – I’m going to be a spoiler here – heaving-to.

They admit it’s not easy to do that in a fin keel boat, but with a sea anchor it’s quite peachy. The book tells you all about rigging, retrieving and stowing; however, it doesn’t address the actual equipment in depth beyond war surplus parachutes. There is much better gear than that today and “Practical Sailor” things to say about that here.

The Pardeys have a ton of stories about boats that survived very serious weather by heaving to and statistics from various races in hurricane conditions where skippers who chose to run, lie a hull or forereach got knocked down, spun around or kayak rolled while those who hove-to were able to cook a hot meal and read a mystery while the waited for better weather. The Pardeys are churchlike in their belief that you can be saved by heaving to. And after reading the book, I, too, believe. Seriously.

The Pardeys have a fair amount to say about trysails and storm jibs and lots to say about rigging a sea anchor, but they don’t get to the heart of the matter – how to do this stuff – until near page 100. The Q & A section, at least for me, was the most worthwhile part of the book.

The book is definitely worth a read when the weather is too nasty to sail. If there were a test at the end, I’ll tell you the answer: Heave to.

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2 responses so far

2 Responses to “Book Review – Storm Tactics by Lin and Larry Pardey”

  1. # R. Harveyon 11 Feb 2010 at 08:20

    It’s the ole’ “A seaworthy vessel will withstand much more than her crew” theory. There are hundreds of stories of Captains & crew abandoning perfectly good boats in bad wx only to discover days or weeks after that the boat they abandoned weathered the storm relatively unscathed.

    I’ve never found the motion of the ocean half as disturbing as the noise a boat will make in bad weather. I can only imagine heaving to in the middle of a storm, hunkering down below and listening to the sounds of impending dome. A self imposed torture chamber for sure.

    Maybe the secret is a pair of those noise canceling headphones and a nice glass of red…in a sippy cup of course.

  2. # Larry Pruitton 18 Feb 2010 at 21:58

    Thanks for the review Dan. I just ordered the book from Amazon.

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