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The Impractical Boat Owner

Tales and Trials from Years of Floundering Afloat
Author: Dave Selby
Published: 2017
Format: Paperback, 112 pages
Size: 216 × 135 × 7 mm
Regular price £1299
Tax included

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We dispatch most orders within one working day.

Admiralty charts are printed to order. During the busy season from April to August dispatch may take three to five working days due to print queues. If you'd like to know our current dispatch time or if you're up against a deadline please get in touch and we will do our best to help.

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Sailing Fails and Nautical Misadventures

A hilarious take on the trials and tribulations of boat ownership, packed with self-deprecating wisdom and witty cartoons.

This is a book with no practical purpose whatsoever. As any fan of Dave's would probably guess, a book by him won't make you a better sailor, and it won't provide any instruction on boat maintenance. But it will entertain – his light but observational writings tap the rich well of all those things that sailors know but few dare admit.

The Impractical Boat Owner is a collection of Dave's columns for Practical Boat Owner magazine, expanded for the book, and with additional 'Lessons Not Learned' hints and tips boxes, all accompanied by Jake Kavanagh's wonderful cartoons. Taking us from Dave's first flounderings afloat to more recent, er, flounderings afloat, themes covered include:

  • First attempts at sailing
  • How not to sail singlehanded
  • Mysteries of maintenance
  • How not to sail with a dog
  • The impenetrable mysteries of navigation and weather
  • How not to race

The Impractical Boat Owner is an antidote to all that's written about expensive shiny new yachts, self-improvement, the quest for qualifications, and practical skills.

About the Author

Dave Selby has been a columnist in national papers including The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Financial Times, and The Evening Standard. He has written seven books on motoring, including six editions of the Miller’s Collectors Cars Price Guide (1997-2002) and the highly acclaimed Ultimate Classic Car Book (Dorling Kindersley, 1995), co-authored with Quentin Wilson. He also writes two monthly sailing columns in Practical Boat Owner and Classic Boat.

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