11 Best Sailing Adventures Books: Escape To The High Seas
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I have always loved the water, well before sailing away from it all. Once we developed our 6-year plan to retire early and sail away, I was fixated with what life would be like on the water. In addition to reading blogs, watching YouTube channels, and listening to podcasts about sailing, I read several books about sailing. I have complied the 11 best sailing adventure books that kept me excited during our 6 years of planning and let me escape in my mind to a life at sea.
Best Sailing Adventure Books
1. Facing Fear: The First Woman to Sail Solo around Antarctica by Lisa Blair
Top on my sailing book list is this true story by Lisa Blair, the first woman to sail solo around Antarctica. It is an inspiring story that includes massive waves, gale-force winds and a storm that took down her mast. Through it all she was alone in the most remote parts of the world.
What I Loved
I loved reading about Lisa’s courage and strength as she battled the waves and wind. I was in awe reading about all of the rough conditions she sailed through.
2. The Skipper And The Eagle by Captain Gordon McGowan
United States Coast Guard Cutter Eagle is a 295-foot three-masted barque that is currently a training vessel for the Coast Guard. This book tells the story of how the USCG acquired the Eagle and sailed her back to the United States from Germany after World War II – through a hurricane!
Scott had the opportunity to sail on the Eagle during a summer at the USCG Academy and we both had the opportunity to tour the Eagle when it was in Pensacola, FL in 2022.
What I Loved
I loved learning about the history of the Eagle after having had the opportunity to tour the ship.
3. An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude by Ann Vanderhoof
The author Ann Vanderhoof, and her husband, Steve Manley, quit their jobs and hectic lives in cold, dreary Toronto, Ontario and moved aboard a 42-foot sailboat and set sail for the Caribbean. This book tells stories on their culinary and cultural adventures along the way and gives you a good glimpse into the liveaboard sailing lifestyle.
What I loved
This is one of the first sailing adventure books that I read. I loved getting a glimpse into what life is like living on a boat.
4. Desperate Voyage by John Caldwell
Long before our planning (and saving money) to sail away from it all, Scott and I took a vacation to Palm Island in the Grenadines. It is here that I learned who John Caldwell was, the developer of the island.
He wrote this book, Desperate Voyage, about his journey to rejoin with is wife after World War II. He was stranded in Panama unable to secure any other form of transport to his wife, some 9,000 miles away in Australia. So, he set sail on a 20-foot sailboat on a mission to reunite with his wife. This book is full of courage, determination, and even an angry shark!
What I Loved
I loved reading his first-hand account of being out on the sea in a small boat with a lot of challenges. I also loved reading about the villagers he met along the way.
5. Voyage For Madmen by Peter Nichols
This is an amazing story about the historical race in 1968 to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe non-stop. The very first Golden Globe race! Nine sailors set out on this daring race. Read about all of their adventures, and who actually made it across the finish line.
Peter Nichols did a great job keeping me enthralled in this book through the end. He also captures well the struggles of the sailors in times before cell phones, satellite dishes and electronic positioning systems.
What I Loved
I loved reading about all the different sailors, each of their stories, and how they each delt with adversity.
6. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
In 1914, British Explorer Ernest Shackleton along with 27 crew members set sail to Antarctica, where he planned to cross the last uncharted continent by foot. Challenges and struggles arise when the ship gets trapped in ice and they must overcome significant challenges of try to reach help at the nearest outpost some 850 miles away.
What I Loved
My favorite part about this book is how Shackleton split up his group, and his reasoning behind it. I don’t want to give away the book, so I’ll say no more…
7. The Wager: A Tale Of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
In 1742, a derelict vessel washes ashore on the coast of Brazil. Inside were 30 malnourished men, barely alive, with an extraordinary story to tell as survivors of the Wager, his Majesty’s British vessel that left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. They arrived ashore as heroes However, six months later, an even more derelict vessel washes ashore in Chili with 3 castaways, and a very different story to tell.
This is a riveting non-fiction book with unexpected twists!
What I Loved
That fact that this is a non-fiction book and based on real life events!
8. Swell: A Sailing Surfer’s Voyage of Awakening by Liz Clark
Liz Clark, surfer and sailor, set off on a solo adventure to catch waves and see the world by sailboat. Her story tells about her adventures as she left from Santa Barbara and sailed to the South Pacific and French Polynesia.
What I Loved
I loved reading about how Liz went out on her own, following the waves and surf. I loved reading about all of her experiences, things that would have never happened if you don’t take a leap of faith.
9. Plunge: One Woman’s Pursuit Of A Life Less Ordinary by Liesbet Collaert
Liesbet Collaert plunged into a new and adventurous lifestyle of life at sea with a man she barely knew and his two dogs. How does this story play out? Adjusting to a new lifestyle and new relationship brings several new challenges for Lisebet to overcome.
I found this book to be a dose of reality that sailing off into the sunset is not all sunshine and cocktails. Well written and interesting throughout.
What I Loved
I loved how Liesbet opens up and tells the reader about the non-sailing challenges of how this lifestyle of living aboard a sailboat can affect your relationship with yourself and your significant other.
10. Sailing Alone Around The World by Joshua Slocum
This is the story about Captain Joshua Slocum, the first man to ever sail around the world solo. He cast off in 1895 and tells stories of pirate attacks, gale-force winds, strange hallucinations, and the ever present threat of being shipwrecked.
What I Loved
I love that this book is written as a first-person account by the first person to sail around the world alone.
11. The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
This is the last novel that Ernest Hemmingway saw published. This is the only fiction book on my list, so I put it at the bottom, but this list is by no means in any particular order.
This novel is about an old Cuban Fisherman who battles with the fish of his life, a giant marlin, in the gulf stream. While not a long book, it contains several great messages of personal strength and triumph.
What I Loved
I loved all of the messages I could take away from this book. One of my favorite quotes from this book is “Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.”
Summary
There are still so many great sailing adventure books out there that are on my list to read. What are your favorite sailing adventure books? Please add them in the comments below and help share some inspiration for future and seasoned sailors alike.
Live your dream,
