By Claud Worth.
Published by J. D. Potter (Fourth Edition 1934)
This Fens-born ophthalmologist sailed a variety of traditional gaff-rigged yachts around the UK, to Spain, Brittany, Ireland and the Scottish Western Isles from the late 19th Century until his death in the 1930s.
His book is a classic that remains as relevant today as the material of the yachts themselves. His sections on seamanship, single-handed cruising, and ground tackle to name but three are based on hard-won experience.
What surprised me re-reading this book after so many years is the similarities between Claud Worth and Dick Beaumont, Kraken Yachts’ chairman. Take, for example, what Worth writes about building a yacht: ‘…a man who has owned and has lived in a yacht will know far more than a designer or a builder who has not…’, this could have been written by Dick himself.
A recommended read both for a historical perspective on yachting and for a lost world of sound, practical advice.
